Shutdown Continues, Trouble Ahead

President Barack Obama laid the blame for the government’s partial shutdown at the feet of House Speaker John Boehner on Thursday, escalating a confrontation that is running the risk of a potentially damaging clash over the nation’s borrowing authority. The Treasury Department warned that a deadlock over raising the nation’s debt limit could touch off a new recession even worse than the last one that Americans are still recovering from. Worry about prospects for resolving the debt question within the next two weeks deepened as the shutdown standoff dragged on. Speaking at a construction company in Washington’s Maryland suburbs, Obama cast the House speaker as a captive of a small band of conservative Republicans who want to extract concessions in exchange for passing a short term spending bill that would restart the partially shuttered government/ Associated Press . More here. (AP photo: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif. gestures during a news conference about the ongoing budget fight)

• SR Edit: Republicans must end demands for ransom

Question: Do you consider House Republicans courageous/reckless as a result of their actions that have led to this partial government shutdown?