The entire budget discussion should never have been tied to this debt ceiling vote. They are two separate issues, we are obligated to raise the debt ceiling to pay for the budget we ALREADY approved. It's beyond ludicrous to think that it's acceptable to simply not pay our bills.
A good issue was brought up by several of the CNN economists, and that is we are forgetting about job creation entirely. The best way to stimulate the economy is through jobs, not by cutting spending and slashing departments of the gov't. I would like to see our Congress as focused on job creation as they were on the debt ceiling. A more balanced budget is only part of the equation we need to solve to get our economy back on track.