The GOP blinked

That's my feeling.  The Democrats, whom never met spending they didn't like, aside from funds allocated to the DoD, pushed the GOP to the wall over $61 billion in cuts to a budget that grew by $1 TRILLION the past two years!

If that's all the cuts we could find, the government needed to shut down until our elected representatives could find better accountants!

Last year's trouncing of the Dems in the mid-term elections demonstrated one thing:  The much-maligned and oft-underestimated Tea Party is growing in strength.  People are sick of endless and reckless government spending with OUR MONEY!  Yes, the U.S. has a revolving debt, paying off the debt-holders from time to time by borrowing from other debt-holders.  This economic system has survived for generations because of the confidence of the debt-holders in the continued existence of the U.S., and it's continued ability to pay its debts.

But we are fast approaching the point where the federal debt will be 90% of our GDP.  Unless we can increase the growth rate of the national economy, it becomes increasingly more difficult for that debt to ever hope to be paid off.  Debt-holders lose confidence in the U.S. economy, and become more reluctant to lend us money.