2011《财富》最愚蠢商业事件大盘点（上）

美国债务上限辩论大混战

    “愚蠢。”“就像身处香蕉共和国（指经济单一、政局不稳的效果——译注）一样。”

    投资者纷纷用这样尖刻的话来描述国会在债务上限辩论中的表现。

    一些国会议员宁愿让国家冒违约的风险，也不愿意扩大借贷。因为，美国需要现金来为现有政策买单，而通过这些政策的就是……国会。

    国会的原则听起来很高尚——美国不能无限期地借款。但如果不提高债务限额，就意味着需要大幅削减开支，而此举必将使美国经济陷入困境，导致税收下降，进而使财政赤字进一步恶化。

    虽然美国国会最终涉险过关，但此次争论却使美国失去了宝贵的AAA信用评级。——珍妮•萨哈蒂

Debt ceiling debacle

    "Stupid." "Like a banana republic."

    Those are a few of the choice words investors used to describe Congress' behavior during the debt ceiling debate.

    Some members of Congress were willing to risk letting the country default rather than borrow more money. The country needed cash to pay bills from policies that had already been authorized by...well, Congress.

    Their principle was noble -- the United States can't borrow indefinitely. But to not raise the debt ceiling would have meant cutting spending drastically, upending the economy. That, in turn, would worsen deficits as tax revenue fell.

    Congress came through in the end -- barely -- but the bickering led to the loss of the country's prized AAA credit rating. -- Jeanne Sahadi