In the vote in the House that occurred tonight, the body did not raise the debt limit. Rather, the august assembly voted to suspend the debt limit. It is highly likely that it will never be reinstated.
This is a pattern with the United States. In 1971, Nixon suspended gold convertibility of the dollar. In fact, this was the end of the gold standard, but the federal government did not wish to admit this at the time. Washington even kept a purely notional exchange ratio between gold and the dollar to this day that it doesn’t honor.
Likewise, Washington will not admit that the debt ceiling is dead, but it is — dead as a proverbial doornail.
Krugman got one thing right. When he was asked what was backing the $ he said, "Men with guns." For now that is. It used to be a joke, paying for your possessions on "the never, never," on credit or rental.