Gallows humor

As the United States teeters on the cliff of debt limit default, for no reason other than that a bunch of stupid Republicans can't lead and don't follow and won't get out of anyone's way, the only thing to do is collect the witticisms of the blogosphere and laugh, gentlemen, laugh.

Having spent two hours talking to House Republicans, my expert investment advice is: Short everything
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) October 15, 2013

It just hit me. GOP's "no extraordinary measures" demand in latest House proposal is basically a DNR for America http://t.co/F4Hef6WETv
— John Aravosis (@aravosis) October 15, 2013

And here's something that isn't funny at all -- Reuter's Felix Salmon says the default threat is already harming the US economy

The US government, in one form or another, is a counterparty to every single financial player in the world. Its payments have to be certain, or else the whole house of cards risks collapsing — starting with the multi-trillion-dollar interest-rate derivatives market, and moving rapidly from there.
And here’s the problem: we’re already well past the point at which that certainty has been called into question. Fidelity, for instance, has no US debt coming due in October or early November, and neither does Reich & Tang . . . While debt default is undoubtedly the worst of all possible worlds, then, the bonkers level of Washington dysfunction on display right now is nearly as bad. Every day that goes past is a day where trust and faith in the US government is evaporating — and once it has evaporated, it will never return.