There has been a strange complacency in some of the commentary on the standoff over raising the federal debt ceiling. Of course the politicians will do the right thing, some pundits seem to think. How could they put the economy and financial markets at risk?

Yet the nation is tumbling toward the brink of a first-ever default. At minimum, it would be an unwelcome hit for the economy. At worst, it could trigger a crash.

Democrats are not blameless. But the real problem is unprecedented hardheadedness on the part of many Republicans. They apparently don't recognize a good deal when they see one.

Republicans have extracted huge concessions on spending — an agreement to a roughly 3-to-1 ratio of spending cuts to revenue increases. In the bipartisan talks led by Vice President Joe Biden, negotiators had agreed to more than $1 trillion in savings before Republicans walked out over taxes. Some sources claim the numbers are even higher — more on the order of $2.3 trillion, according to The Washington Post.

Some Republicans are now demanding a vote on a balanced-budget amendment as well — a dubious idea. And even when asked to close tax loopholes that many members of their own party say are discretionary, the answer until Wednesday had been a thunderous "No!" House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) now says his party may be open to that discussion. Good.

We have no problem with Republicans tying their support for increasing the debt ceiling to spending cuts. The federal government should be trimmer. But if this were a serious deficit-reduction discussion, taxes would be on the table as well.

We've long argued that the nation must get a grip on entitlement programs — Medicare and Medicaid. But the discussion on how precisely to do that should not take place in the context of a rapid-fire countdown to raise the debt ceiling, which, by the way, is simply a formal approval allowing the Treasury Department to issue debt to pay for past spending. This is a recipe for bad policy.

President Barack Obama has invited top leaders of both parties from the House and Senate to a White House meeting on Thursday. He asked them to "leave their ultimatums at the door." We hope they take his advice.

Republicans should not allow their faith in the no-new-tax religion to blind them to common sense. They should take what Democrats are offering — extract a little more if they must — and cut a deal. The nation should live up to its promises — especially the one about paying back the money it borrows — and avoid giving the economy a gut punch.

Republican recalcitrance probably has much to do with the GOP hope that Obama gets the blame for whatever fallout ensues. Republicans should be careful what they wish for.

REPRINTED FROM THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL.