Debt Ceiling Crisis: Paul Krugman Says 'Even Those Who Don't Care If It Burns Don't Want Their Fingerprints On The Torch'

Nobel laureate and noted economist Paul Krugman has criticized the debt ceiling stand-off saying nobody wants to own responsibility for "setting the world economy on fire."

"…But I do think even an important factor in the next few weeks is that nobody wants to be responsible for setting the world economy on fire. Even those who don’t care if it burns don’t want their fingerprints on the torch," he said in his tweet.

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Krugman's tweet comes ahead of President Joe Biden's meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday in regard to the crisis. The President has also summoned four top congressional leaders. Meanwhile, the Treasury has sounded cautious about running out of cash and has warned about the consequences of defaulting on the national debt.

“We have been using extraordinary measures for several months now. And our ability to do that is running out,” said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. "We do need to raise the debt ceiling to avoid economic calamity,” she said.

Ahead of the meeting, a group of 43 Republican Senators led by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) have written a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer expressing their collective commitment to oppose raising the debt ceiling without any major spending and budget reforms.

Workarounds: Krugman has been citing workarounds to the debt ceiling impasse that include minting a trillion-dollar platinum coin and issuing premium bonds.

"It’s really important to understand that some of the economic objections to debt ceiling workarounds — notably claims that minting the coin would be inflationary monetary financing of the debt — are all wrong," he tweeted.

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