The headlines have been alarming. Financial experts and government officials have warned that failing to raise the debt limit will have a catastrophic impact on the global economy, and could even send us deep into another economic recession. But what’s really going to happen—if anything—on October 17?

On Branch, we asked a panel of experts, including Keith Hennessey, Center for American Progress’ Michael Linden, Cato Institute’s Dan Mitchell, Brookings Institution’s William Gale, author and tax historian Joe Thorndike, Tax Policy Center’s Howard Gleckman, and Urban Institute’s Donald Marron and Eugene Steuerle to share their thoughts on the economic, political, and fiscal consequences of hitting the debt limit.

See the Branch conversation after the jump.  

Photo by J. Scott Applewhite/ AP