Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., writes in today’s Washington Post,

Even as work continues to repair our financial infrastructure and get the economy moving again, we need urgent action to forestall the next financial crisis. I fear that one will start in Washington. Total federal debt has doubled in the past seven years, to almost $14 trillion. That’s more than $100,000 for every American household. This explosive growth in federal borrowing is a result of not just the financial crisis but also government unwillingness over many years to make the hard choices necessary to rein in our long-term structural deficit.

Sheila Bair is bright enough to realize that Ireland’s blanket deposit guarantee of its banking system is a major cause of its current collapse and loss of confidence in its sovereign credit.   Furthermore, she, no doubt, understands, like Ireland,  the FDIC collapses if confidence deteriorates in “the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.”

The drumbeat is growing louder about a potential U.S. sovereign debt crisis.  What is happening in Europe must be scaring the Begeezus out of official Washington.  Let’s hope they get religion.