Wonkbook: Brace yourselves. This fiscal fight could be worse than 2011′s.

By Ezra Klein and Evan Soltas, WashPost, Updated: September 24, 2013

Much of Washington -- not to mention the financial markets -- is taking comfort in the fact that think they've seen this movie before.

In 2011, House Republicans threatened to shut down the government and breach the debt ceiling unless the Obama administration made substantial concessions. Though the negotiations were tense, the two sides ultimately came to an agreement. There was no shutdown. There was no default. The lesson most everyone took away was that Washington always figures it out in the end.

But this isn't 2011. It's potentially much worse.

What's lost in the comforting analogy is how much the two sides agreed on in 2011:

1) Republicans had just won a massive victory in the midterm elections, so both sides broadly agreed that Republicans had a mandate to cut spending.

2) Both sides agreed that there should be negotiations over the debt ceiling. Indeed, by the time the debt ceiling hit, negotiations had been ongoing for months.

(More here.)