Editor: Recent editorials and columns have noted that Republicans can now focus on debating the debt ceiling to get more spending cuts and improve their 2012 electoral chances. The Panics of 1893 and 1907, however, show how dangerous even the threat of U.S. Treasury bond defaults can be. J.P. Morgan and President Cleveland had to bail out the U.S. Treasury in 1895 with foreign gold.
Playing chicken with the debt ceiling and default equals no tea party