There was more uncertainty and inconclusiveness on Capitol Hill on Tuesday as the putative date of default (Thursday) got very close indeed.

There’s nothing like a deadline to inspire action, so finally on Wednesday, Congress voted to raise the debt ceiling so that the federal government doesn’t default on existing obligations, and end the partial shutdown of government operations.

As of Monday night, the debt-ceiling standoff was reportedly close to resolution—at least if word from the various top Senators involved could be taken at face value—but no resolution had been achieved.

A debt-ceiling and shutdown deal seemed possible on Friday, but things seemed to go retrograde over the weekend.

No agreement about the looming debt ceiling or the shutdown of the federal government had been reached—but that didn’t stop reports of a possible short-term agreement on the most pressing of those two fiscal situations, namely the debt ceiling.

The Federal Open Market Committee released the minutes of its Sept. 17-18 meeting on Wednesday, and it was clear the central bankers saw one thing coming.

These are nervous days. Gallup reported on Tuesday that Americans’ confidence in the economy has deteriorated more in the past week during the partial government shutdown than in any week since Lehman Brothers collapsed in Sept. 2008.

Not much economic data is coming from the federal government these days, but the U.S. Energy Information Administration did manage to release a report on American oil and natural gas production.