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Barack Obama announces debt deal - Source: ONE News -
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"We didn't default!" tweeted US comedian Stephen Colbert this week.
"I haven't been this excited about averting a voluntary disaster since the time I didn't stick my hand in a paper shredder".
I couldn't have put it better myself.
Comedian Remy Munasifi turned the standoff into song.
As well as being kinda catchy the satire raises come good points like, why didn't anyone think of this about oooh, $14 trillion ago?
Jay Leno joked on NBC's tonight show "Democrats warned that if the debt ceiling isn't raised, the government would cease to function. How would you be able to tell?"
It's no surprise comedians found plenty of fodder in the debt ceiling deadlock because the whole debacle was a joke.
Not because the US defaulting on its debt would be a hoot - it wouldn't be.
It wasn't the kind of joke that has your sides splitting, but rather the kind that makes you shake your head in wonder at the inefficiency of the system and the ineptitude of the people elected to operate it.
The initial confidence that a deal would be done because it simply HAD to be done began to wane as the number of days to deadline became single digits.
The stand off between Democrats and Republicans prompted Wall Street to last week record its worst week in a year - and for what?
The Republicans had Obama over a barrel in Congress, while he of course wields the overriding power of veto - hence the impasse.
The polls show many Americans blame Republicans more than they do Obama - and arguably no one on either side of the divide emerges from the fracas looking good.
But I think a case could be made that the Republicans outmanouvered the President. He seemed to draw lines in the sand only to watch them wash away.
He wanted to increase government revenue as well as cut spending but the Republicans, particularly the Tea Party faction, were having none of it and lo and behold the resulting bill didn't include moves to raise taxes.
The expected relief rally on the markets once the deal was in the works was short lived. Fear is a veritable force of nature on stock markets and before the deal agreed between Obama and Boehner was even passed by Congress, investors were focussing instead on the dismal economic data which began coming thick and fast.
In fact by Thursday markets fell precipitously as worry turned to panic.
Wall Street recorded its worst day in more than two years - which harks back to when we were still in the grips of the global financial crisis.
The kiwi dollar mirrored that fall as investors flocked back to the perceived safety of the US dollar - the irony of heading back to the currency of the country experiencing such problems is not lost on me.
There will be many cheering the kiwi's fall from its post-float highs, but the reasons for it are no cause for celebration.
OM Financial's Nigel Brunel on AMP Business this morning told me "it's gone from a debt crisis to a crisis of debt...cutting spending won't be good for the economy....it looks like we could be headed for a double-dip (recession) and I think potentially QE3 (quantitative easing) from the US is on the cards."
Another bout of money printing will prevent the kiwi dollar falling too much further.
This week President Obama, when speaking about the sluggish US economy, remarked that "unfortunately the debt ceiling crisis over the last month, I think, has had an unnecessary negative impact on the economy".
No kidding!
The old saying 'when America sneezes, everyone catches a cold' still holds true.
The Swiss and the Japanese economies are prime examples of the problems America's economy can cause for others.
As investors have sought out safer places to put their money, they've headed to the Swiss Franc and the Japanese Yen, which hurts their export sectors.
This week that pushed Switzerland to cut interest rates and Japan to intervene in the currency markets, selling about a trillion yen (that's about $15 billion New Zealand) to bring down the soaring currency.
While most are picking that interest rates here will have to head up soon as our domestic prospects improve, our Reserve Bank Governor will undoubtedly be watching this week's developments in the US and the euro zone with growing concern.
As much as it might seem like the joke has been on the US, make no mistake, America's folly affects us all and that's no laughing matter.
Read more of Nadine's opinion here.
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