Economy: Barack Obama ready to do anything to avoid default

The threat of a US default escalated sharply last night, and House Republicans closed the door to negotiations with Barack Obama. He, however, maintained that he had offered the Republicans an "extraordinarily fair" deal.

His face contorted with cold anger, Obama announced he was summoning congressional leaders to the White House for another round of negotiations. Despite the rapidly deteriorating situation, he reiterated his confidence in raising the debt ceiling before the August 2nd deadline set by the Treasury.

It's always the taxes…

The US president asserted that he was prepared to take sole political responsibility for raising the debt ceiling, determined to avoid default. He emphasized, however, that this increase would have to be sufficient to avoid needing to be repeated before 2013, after the November 2012 presidential election in which he is a candidate. He also insisted on the necessity of raising taxes, despite Republicans' opposition to any proposed cuts.

Further negotiations are planned.

«Even though the president has asked for an additional $400 billion in tax increases,» Republican leader John Boehner stated, «we haven’t closed the door to all negotiations.» He asserted that after ending talks with the president, he would begin “discussions with Senate leaders to find a solution.”.