By Hugo Odiogor

Prospect of debt default stirred Americans into visibly outrage yesterday amid the legislative calisthenics  playing out in the United States Congress. The lawmakers of the Republican and Democratic parties engaged each other in divisive politics at the expense of the economic survival and credibility of their country.

With 48 hours to the August 1 deadline on raising the cap on the amount of money the US Treasury can borrow to pay the government’s bills, the leadership of the legislature is  deeply divided while the image of the country suffers irreparable damage.

Records last week showed that the national debt has  hit the $14.3 trillion legal limit and unless the Congress acts by Tuesday, the Treasury will go broke, meaning that US could begin running short of cash for federal health-care and retirement benefits, military salaries and payments due investors, thereby throwing the U.S. government into default for the first time in its history.

Apart from the default saga, America’s credit -rating companies is in danger as the country risks being downgraded on its AAA rating, which could drive up interest rates for government at all levels, as well as for ordinary Americans.

Speaker  John A. Boehner, who represents Republican Party, Ohio, laboured through the weekend to rally a vote for his plan which will raise the debt ceiling for six months but President Barack Obama has signaled that he would veto the measure because it might force another battle over the debt limit early next year.

Majority Leader, Mr. Harry Reid of Democratic Party, Nevada, pronounced the Republican Party proposal “dead on arrival” in the Senate, where Democrats were struggling to rally votes for their own plan to raise the debt limit by $2.7 trillion — enough additional borrowing authority to cover the nation’s bills into 2013.