The overhyped non-crisis of a debt limit vote

This time the hysteria is, if anything, even more over the top than in the past. Much news reporting is downright false. Thus, for example, today’s New York Times asserts:

If the U.S. breaches the debt limit, it can no longer borrow money, and has to default on its existing debts.

I would call this a lie, except that Times reporters are so ill-informed they might actually believe such nonsense. As I have written before, there is zero chance of the U.S. government defaulting on its debt obligations. If the debt limit is not increased, it simply means that the total debt can’t go up. There is plenty of revenue to pay interest on the debt, and new debt can be incurred to pay off existing debt as it matures.