According to the latest national Pew Research/Washington Post poll – despite all the warnings of an economic apocalypse if the government fails to raise the nation’s debt ceiling limit – many Americans say they do not have a good understanding of what would happen if the debt limit is not raised. Only a narrow majority – 55 percent – say they know very well what not raising the limit could do.

But perhaps that factoid is not so shocking. Just yesterday, in a Fox News interview, House Speaker John Boehner made the surprising admission that he did not know what would happen if a debt deal is not reached. If Speaker Boehner is looking for a lesson on on that, he could look no further than the seniors at the Saint Charles Jubilee Senior Center in Downtown Brooklyn. The Speaker would no doubt benefit from their words of wisdom.