Look at this: The United States Government is now "shut down." However, it is still spending money. Now it is late on the evening of Tuesday, October 15, 2013. At the rate the U.S. government is now spending money, it will run out of money and default on its debts sometime this Thursday, October 17. If the U.S. government defaults on its debts, U.S. treasury bonds, a trusted source of investment around the world, will become worthless. The money people have lent to the government from around the world will be worthless. No one will want to lend to the U.S. government anymore. The U.S. government will no longer have debt as a source of income. And it will suddenly become unable to fund huge numbers of agencies, costing thousands of people their jobs and millions of people around the country possibly vital services. At least this is what I gather will happen.

I mean the two sides do seem close to a compromise, but what if that's barely not close enough?