Is The U.S. About To Face A Financial Armageddon?

'It's All Fallen Apart': Senior Democrat Blasts Shutdown Chaos As Republicans Put Forward Surprise Rival Proposal To Senate Plan To End Stand-Off .... With Just Two Days Left To 'Armageddon' -- Daily Mail

* California Senator Dianne Feinstein hit out after Senate talks were thrown into disarray
* Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell ended talks with his opposition after House Republicans unveiled their own rival plan
* House members are now set to vote tonight on their own last-minute debt-limit package
* 'The House legislation will not pass the Senate,' countered a furious top Senate Democrat Harry Reid
* Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has warned of dire economic consequences if a deal isn't reached by October 17
* Fitch Ratings put U.S. debt on 'ratings negative watch' over the 'political brinkmanship' that risks the strength of the dollar as the 'preeminent global reserve currency'
* Blackstone CEO Tony James warned of 'Armageddon' in the markets if the U.S. defaults on its debts, predicting 'the stock market would plummet'
* The White House cancelled a Monday bipartisan Oval Office meeting, replacing it with a House-Democrats-only huddle Tuesday afternoon
* 'It looks like we're going to hold our ground, at least for now,' says one GOP staffer on Capitol Hill

Republicans in the House of Representatives plan to hold a vote tonight on a bill aimed at ending the debt-ceiling showdown and reopening the federal government in a surprise move that led Senate Democrats stunned and furious. California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein is telling reporters that bipartisan talks in the Senate are in disarray.

'It's all fallen apart,' Californian Democratic Sen Dianne Feinstein told Bloomberg News this afternoon. She hit out as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell broke off negotiations with Majority Leader Harry Reid while his House GOP counterparts work to pass their bill.

The Democrat-led Senate was inching toward a package that they thought would be agreed by the Senate and Congress before House Speaker John Boehner threw a spanner in the works.

Read more ....

Update #1: House GOP budget bill collapses before getting a vote -- CBS
Update #2: Senate Takes Reins of Fiscal Deal After House Fails to Take Up Plan -- ABC News

My Comment: Thank God I do not have a penny invested in the U.S.. As to what is my take on what is going to happen this Thursday .... I do not care .... my priority that afternoon will be to barbeque spare ribs using my special recipe .... and (of course) to blog on a few war/defense/intelligence stories.