This is an interesting article on what went on in the White House before the debt default can kick.
Behind the scenes, administration officials were pulling any lever they
could. They called business leaders, Republican lobbyists and GOP wise
men to solicit ideas on how to move Boehner. They pleaded with them to
call Republican congressional offices as well. (Obama told the Senate
Democrats that one CEO, who went unnamed, was refusing to return
Boehner's calls, angry at his alliance with the tea party.) The
president recognized that the GOP wanted what he called "a bloody shirt"
in exchange for funding the government and raising the debt limit. But
their demands were outlandish to the point of being laughable: At a
meeting with House Democrats, Obama joked that the Republican ransom
list was so long, the only thing it didn't include was his resignation.
And even if the demands had been reasonable, he had resolved on
principle not to meet them.
I wonder who that CEO was that didn't return Boehners calls. My guess it was probably someone in the financial industry because they would have been on the front line if there was a debt default. Maybe it was Jamie Dimon because he would be damn angry at Boehner for playing russian roulette with the economy. It also seemed we got pretty close to the edge before some grown-ups stepped in.
It was another bit of defiance against Obama's demand that reform of
his health care law was off the table, and despair began to set in at
both Reid's office and the White House. One senior administration
official said concerns heightened that Tuesday that the country would
default. Reid shared the fear.
"Oh, yeah," he said when asked if there were moments he thought the
country would hit the debt limit. "Oh, yes. Absolutely, absolutely.
People were giving speeches that it wouldn't hurt anything. Of course
there was worry. I was trying to be logical and rational dealing with
illogical and irrational people. I was damned scared."
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