How badly did the debt fight damage America's image abroad?

Foreign observers were horrified by Washington's bungling of a debt-ceiling hike, and Uncle Sam's reputation may never recover

The Obama Administration
(Image credit: CC BY: The White House)

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, disgusted by Washington's rancorous battle over the debt crisis, says the U.S. is living beyond its means, "like a parasite" on the global economy. Other nations are also gloating. The state-controlled Xinhua newspaper in China, which owns a fortune in U.S. bonds and currency, called Congress's flirtation with default "dangerously irresponsible." Did the fight over the debt ceiling do irreparable harm to America's global economic leadership?

The U.S. is now a laughingstock: "The United States has made a fool of itself," says Philip Bowring at The Jakarta Globe. This fiasco shined a glaring light on America's dysfunctional political system "to the point of seriously damaging the U.S. position in the world." Not only that, but by making bond investors jittery, Washington will drive up the cost of borrowing for everybody. Thanks a lot, America.

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