Trea­sury Sec­re­tary Tim­othy Geitner says Con­gress has until August 2nd to approve an increase in the fed­eral debt limit — enabling the Trea­sury to borrow more money — or the U.S. gov­ern­ment will not be able to meet all of its finan­cial oblig­a­tions. Here, North­eastern finance and eco­nomics instructor Richard Goettle dis­cusses what could happen to the economy if Con­gress and the White House fail to find common ground.