Obama offers glimmer of hope on US fiscal deadlock

There were signs of tentative progress on the US fiscal deadlock yesterday as President Obama indicated he would accept a short-term increase in the nation's borrowing authority to avert a default.

According to Reuters, Obama's press secretary, Jay Carney, told reporters the President would be willing to accept a short-term debt ceiling increase in order to get past the potential crisis date of 17 October when the government hits the $16.7trn borrowing limit. Carney said while the White House would prefer to raise the ceiling longer term, at least for a year, he added "we have never stated and we are not saying today that the debt ceiling ought to be or can be any particular length of time." A short-term increase would give Republicans and Democrats some breathing room, but by i...