Political Quotes

“Madam President, yesterday I sat down with the President to talk about how to avoid a default crisis that would be a black mark on this country's reputation for generations to come. If we fail to avert this crisis, it would be the first time in our great Nation's history that we have defaulted on our financial obligations and would send shock waves through the global economy. But I am not the only one saying that. The most respected voices in the business and financial community are saying the same thing: Default would be awful. Business leaders, economists, bank executives, credit rating agencies, and even a Republican adviser to Presidents Reagan and George Bush--the same adviser to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush--have used some very serious words to describe the kind of crisis defaulting on our debt would cause. The word many have used is it would be a ``catastrophe.'' The legendary Warren Buffett said a few days ago that allowing the United States to default on its debt would be Congress's ``most asinine act'' ever. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said a failure to avert default would have ``catastrophic economic consequences that would last for decades.'' Failure to avert this crisis would have dire consequences and would result in the most serious financial crisis this country has ever faced.…”