The Final Countdown

Anyone who has been in New York sometime might have walked by this peculiar clock on Sixth Avenue. This is the National Debt Clock, which constantly updates to show the current US gross national debt and each American family’s share of this debt.

Back in April, the rating agency Standard & Poor downgraded the US credit outlook, meaning that the long-term outlook on US credit has decreased, but the AAA credit rating stays.
Now, the rating agency is close to downgrading the US credit rating from its Triple-A status. The US debt limit lies at $14 294 trillion, and the US has reached that ceiling on the 16^th of May. Under the law, the Treasury Department is not allowed to borrow money unless Congress gives its approval by raising the limit on borrowing. For now, the Treasury Secretary Geithner said he could keep the US out of default until August 2^nd.
So now American lawmakers are considering whether to raise the debt ceiling, an act that according to the president would not help the economy in the long-term, but seems like the only momentary solution. In respect to this, the democrats are striving to save budgets for large areas of government spending, while the Republicans are refusing to accept anything to do with a tax increase.
The urgency of this American debt ceiling crisis is that if the Democrats and Republicans in Congress do not reach a deal on the negotiations by August 2^nd the American government will basically go bankrupt. The United States will not be able to pay its bills in full as it will have run out of money.