US averts default but not trust deficit

While many countries and businesses felt that Republicans and Democrats had hijacked their interests by haggling over the US government's debt ceiling, many participating American politicians and lawmakers lightly dismissed the possible default as no big deal.

A similar farce was played out a little more than two years ago, that is, in July 2011. Does that mean the next possible US default is just a few months away, because the Senate and House of Representatives agreed on Wednesday only to extend the debt limit until Feb 7?

Given that Republican House Speaker John Boehner vowed on Wednesday night to continue the fight and many other Republican lawmakers voiced their anger at the result, such a disgraceful and disruptive moment for the US is likely to be repeated sooner than later.

With its economy showing signs of good recovery over the past year, the US should become an important driver of the global economy, which is still struggling to emerge out of the global financial crisis which struck in 2008. As the country with the world's reserve currency, the US also has much greater responsibility than other nations to ensure the stability of the global economy. Yet American politicians chose to play a disruptive role over the past weeks. That is truly exceptional, but hopefully it is not the "exceptionalism" that the US stakes claim to.

Although the US has averted a debt default at the last minute, it has not been able to avoid damage to its credibility. The US will now find it even more difficult to lecture or convince other countries to act responsibly and unselfishly in today's intertwined global world.

That is a loss of trust, and Obama and the US government will have to try and earn that trust back.

The author, based in Washington, is deputy editor of China Daily USA. chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily 10/19/2013 page5)