The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that when House Republicans gathered behind closed doors on Capitol Hill last week to hash out plans for cutting taxes, Representative David Schweikert sounded a note of caution. A New York Times dispatch to The Globe says that the United States’ fiscal problems were at risk of spiralling out of control, Mr. Schweikert told his colleagues. He warned that investors on Wall Street were starting to think twice about lending to the United States, a potential loss of confidence in Washington’s tax-and-spend plans that could ripple across the economy. “This ain’t a game,” said Mr. Schweikert, a member of the House ways and means committee. “Categorically, absolutely the market is more focused and concerned about U.S. fiscal and the implications for issuance and debt levels than was the case a decade ago,” said Nathan Sheets, the chief economist at Citigroup and a former Treasury official. The annual gap between government spending and revenue surpassed $1.9-trillion (U.S) last fiscal year, exceeding 6.6 per cent of gross domestic product. This has raised the possibility that Wall Street and global lenders will start to demand even higher interest rates on Treasury bonds.