The United States House Of Representatives has voted to extend the country's debt limit for several months, saving the country from defaulting on its obligations in a few weeks' time.
But has the move done much to solve the debt crisis, or just delayed a showdown with President Barack Obama?
BERL chief economist Ganesh Nana says it's the latter.
"There's been absolutely no progress, to be honest – all they've done is kicked it down the road for a few months," he said on Firstline this morning.
"Obviously the US has got to make some serious decisions, as do many governments around the world in terms of how they readjust their government accounts.
"This is a long-term problem in terms of demographic changes and what they do with their expenditure, whether it be health or social security."
Dr Nana doesn't hold out much hope the US will address its problems in the near future.
"That's the problem, or the issue – they can tinker at the edges, but there are some significant, serious decisions to be made around their tax policy and their expenditure policy.
"There doesn't appear to be any signs they're going to make those decisions, or make those decisions very quickly or indeed address the issues quickly, because they seem to be quite keen on delaying it further."
Part of the problem, Dr Nana says, is there is nothing to stop them putting off making the hard decisions.
"The issue is whether there is that appetite… Unfortunately in the US there's a bit of gridlock in terms of that politics, so one expects there would be further delays over the next couple of years, if not longer."
3 News
source: newshub archive
