People in most nations have looked on with disbelief this week as the US federal government almost ground to a halt, shutting down all “non-essential services,” everything from national parks and computer Web sites to food and benefit programs for needy women and children.
It seems hard to believe that the members of one political party, the Republicans, could hold an entire nation to ransom, largely because of their dislike of one law: the Affordable Care Act. Their intransigence is harming hundreds of thousands of federal workers, the communities they live and spend money in, and the global economic system because of the risk that the US might default on its debt payment this month.
