Fiscal management is important, James. That's how Canada got through the great recession better than any of the G20 countries. Our governments regulated as they should and now in better place for a recovery.

My only question is the emphases of debt. It's what, in every case, what the country owes to itself. US intellectual energy itself is priceless, and the whole stately edifice of the richest and most powerful country is built on debt.

The issue, the spectacle that has the world literally spellbound, is a minority paralyzing governance, holding the country to ransom because it won't "negotiate" on law declared constitutional by Supreme Court, its citizens raging against Congress.

Again, the issue is not support for the president. It's this wonderful country tied in knots by politicians who don't act on their responsibilities to serve those who elected them. It's the essence of what led to the rise of Hitler and Mussolini: people suckered with the man with the right words.

There's not a soul here who doesn't know what default means to the American people and its ricocheting around the world. Forget the deficit for now. This nonsense is all a radical rump unwilling to accept Obamacare thinly disguised into all sorts of the old legerdemain.

The moderate Republicans will pull this out for one reason only: they have to.