A DEFAULT.

Congressional Republicans know by now what President Barack Obama will sign into law, and therefore, their efforts to stop the United States from falling into a fiscal abyss, as many leading economists are predicting, if a default occurs by the deadline date of August 2nd. 2011, must be geared to making sure that the new Boehner plan, which is scheduled to be voted on today, receives the accord that the White House is expecting.

It must have a balanced approach by the inclusion of revenues that will help in the deficit reduction, which the whole country is looking forward to seeing; as cutting alone into social programs will not be considered as being fair to the elderly and the needy.

That it (plan) will prevent America from losing its high trade/credit rating, and calm the jitters in the overall global economy, and thereby make for a peaceful conclusion to the nation's financial state, for it to remain a citadel of economic stability that the world wants.

It is true that the plan will not be appreciated by Democrats in the Senate, who have already sent a letter to condemn it; but they also have another plan by Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic majority leader in the Senate, that can be aligned with the Boehner plan for a common ground to be found.

Many believe that a merger of the two plans will lead to a compromise and a solution to the problem at hand; and that is what the United States Congress must aspire to achieve.

However, time is of the essence, and so, lawmakers cannot afford to sit on their hands and continue to stir the current deadlock in the face. That will not help anyone, as it will rather harden the resolve of a few die hard left-wing and right-wing members of both parties and make matters worse than before.

All the polls show that, what the country needs is a compromise to resolve the immediate problem of default. There will be plenty of time to deal with other issues that are also pressing.

Yet, presently, Congress must do what it is supposed to do to relieve the pressure on the country's fragile economy to enable companies and corporations to start hiring again, in order for the stiff unemployment rate to go down.

To get the economy to come out from under the stressful nature of the financial problems the country now finds itself is what industries, investment companies and Wall Street want.

As for the uneasiness in world financial markets, they are relating their source of that (uneasiness) to what is happening in America.

They (markets) are wondering why the U.S. is failing to act positively to avert a disaster that will be felt around the globe. They cannot stand the prevailing uncertainty; and as a result their points and averages are falling, not almost, but daily.

In short, the U.S. must not default; it has never done so before. To allow it to happen now will have a far reaching, negative result; and that is the only reason, Congress needs to function in the best way possible.