The glass ceiling
American lawmakers are too busy debating whether to raise the debt ceiling to realise they should end it altogether.
On the side of a Manhattan building near Times Square, the National Debt Clock ticks ever higher. Seymour Durst, a developer, set up the display in 1989 to draw attention to what he saw as the nation's debt problem. But the number's smooth climb has made it easy to forget. The clock now ticks above $31trn, a leap from the $3trn number it displayed when Durst first installed it.
The debt's relentless climb poses a risk to the global economy, not because of its size, but because it will soon reach its legal limit. The debt ceiling, the made-up amount Congress allows the government to borrow, stands at $31.4trn. America is almost there. Last week, Janet Yellen, the head of the Treasury, warned that the state will run out of cash by June. She said the government won't be able to pay its bills and will default, unless politicians raise the country's credit limit.
Should lawmakers do this? Ms Yellen and the Democrats think so. But Republicans are against…