Everyone talking about the debt ceiling and the idea that the Treasury could engage in "prioritization" (honoring some obligations, while not honoring others, so as to maintain a balanced budget and not breach the debt ceiling), needs to see these 9 tweets from Tony Fratto, a former Treasury official under the Bush administration.

The gist: There is NO obvious way to simply "prioritize" payments. The revenue is too lumpy. A default is a real possibility. And there's no alternative to raising the debt ceiling.

GREAT stuff.