INTRODUCTION
For almost two weeks the country (the United States) and the press have been mesmerized by the partial shut down of the Federal government and by the threat that the U.S. will default on its financial obligations due to failure to raise the debt limit.

These problems are due to conflicts between the Republicans and the Democrats on spending versus taxes, and more recently on the pros and cons of the Affordable Health Care act commonly known as ‘Obamacare.’

Both Obamacare and the government shut down have risks associated with them.  From the external viewpoint of an independent voter whose work involves risk analysis, neither side appears to have done a careful examination of any of the risks from either Obamacare itself or from the shutdown of the government. Continue reading →