Like at least some of you, I’m sure, I’ve been checking around the various major news sites for the details (buried among the various official spins) of what caused the latest disruption in the Washington, D.C., debt ceiling talks today.

It’s been hard for me to glean anything useful so far, apart from minutiae about how the ill-fated Gang of Six proposal/PR gambit may have stirred the pot.  Apparently its “bipartisan” nature led President Obama to think he could get GOP votes for some additional tax revenue, while giving the Republicans new hope of leaving Obama behind and peeling off Blue Dog-ish Democrats for a deal tilted even more to the right.

But at least for everyone who’s tired of the depressing squabble, it’ll be over soon because of the upcoming Treasury default deadline, right? Umm…. maybe not, says the Huffington Post:

For months, markets have been girding themselves against the possibility that the U.S. will reach the limits of its borrowing ability on August 2 and default on its debts. But researchers at Barclays Capital think the real deadline may not be until a week later.

In a note published Friday, the Barclays Interest Rates Research team wrote that “the date on which the Treasury will run out of cash to pay its obligations might not be August 2; it might be around August 10 instead.”

… [The original Aug. 2] projection was made on July 13. But since then, the researchers say, the Treasury has taken in about $14 billion more than expected, and paid out about $1 billion less than expected. Hence, the deadline date might actually be August 10, a week later than previously believed.

Which means the posturing (and development of ever-more-ingenious ways to screw the country’s future) could go one even longer.  Talk about your cruel summers.