Last Friday afternoon, amidst the lengthening shadows of a winter sun, the Treasury Secretary delivered an ominous warning: By this Thursday, the U.S. federal debt will reach its legal limit, requiring her to take extraordinary measures just to keep paying the bills.

Secretary Yellen’s warning was, perhaps, a little premature and she suggested that, with some adjustments, our real rendezvous with disaster might be postponed until June.  But even this date is considerably earlier than many assumed in the middle of last year, due, in large part to the budgetary effects of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive tightening.