Obama plays his trump card

Business Insider reports that Obama has now played his trump card. In a speech today in Maryland Obama warned that

"In a government shutdown, Social Security checks still go out on time. In an economic shutdown — if we don't raise the debt ceiling — they don't go out on time," Obama said. "In a government shutdown, disability benefits still arrive on time. In an economic shutdown, they don't."

Earlier on Thursday, the Treasury Department warned in a big report that breaching the debt ceiling could inflict economic calamity "more severe than any seen since the Great Depression."

October 17 is the deadline for raising the debt ceiling.