With everybody in Washington breathing deep signs of relief that earlier today the Senate passed the debt-ceiling deal approved yesterday by the House, and President Obama quickly signed the measure into law, it behooves us all to contemplate what would have been had this happy day not come around.

Recall that Obama told us that verily, surely the world would end on Aug. 2 if something wasn’t done by today to enable him and the rest of Washington professional political class continue the world’s biggest bank heist.