The political gridlock surrounding the debt crisis threatens to undo economic progress made in America’s cities and “sink us back into recession,” according to an opinion piece signed by Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and his counterparts in Los Angeles (Antonio Villaraigosa) and Mesa (Scott Smith) and published at Politico on Tuesday.

The three insisted that the alternative, a federal government default, would have “catastrophic effects on our financial system,” including missed Social Security payments, unpaid military salaries and a sudden lack of federal funding for important urban programs and grants.

“Congress cannot keep passing stopgap measures,” Hizzoners wrote.  “We don’t govern our cities that way and successful businesses don’t operate that way.”

Nutter, Villaraigosa and Mesa advocated instead for a combination of shared belt-tightening in government, spending cuts and tax increases – and expressed dismay at both House Democrats and Republicans rejecting such an approach as well as “the small group of GOP members who have stated their intentions to vote against any revenue increases – even if it means a default.”

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