World watches in disbelief and horror as U.S. nears possible default

That affects the rest of the world quite significantly.”The debt ceiling is just one of many factors threatening the global economy. For some allies in Eastern Europe, the debt ceiling debate comes at a particularly important moment for U.S. strength. “For a close ally of the U.S. like Poland, the debate over the debt ceiling is unnerving,” Baranowski said. I worry that the debt ceiling debate burns up valuable political oxygen that I would rather the U.S. spend for leadership abroad. A debt ceiling like the one that exists in the U.S. stirred debate, but was never written into a proposal.