POTENTIAL MELTDOWN (8)

The U.S Government began to shut down today. Democrats and Republicans could not agree on a budget to finance federal operations for the coming fiscal year (which starts on 1 October in America). The arguments are not new, the compromises are not present. It's no way to run a whelk stall, as my mother would say.

The budget is one thing, raising the federal debt ceiling is another. That needs to be sorted around the middle of the month, otherwise things start to get really bad. Which looks increasingly probable.

Walter Blotscher