Australian Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan went on a big tirade against US Republicans, and in particular Tea Partiers for being a massive threat to the state of the economy.

The basic gist: The Tea Partiers held up the debt ceiling deal (nearly collapsing the country) and have now foisted this fiscal cliff sequestration nonsense on the economy, thus creating a new threat.

From Rod McGuirk of AP:

"Let's be blunt and acknowledge the biggest threat to the world's biggest economy are the cranks and crazies that have taken over a part of the Republican Party," Swan said.

He said "the extreme right Tea Party wing" of the Republican Party had held the national interest hostage during last year's debate over the U.S. borrowing limit despite President Barack Obama's "goodwill and strong efforts."

He said it was imperative that Congress reach an agreement to support growth and avoid a "fiscal cliff" of deep government spending cuts and higher taxes in January, which he said could push the U.S. economy back into recession.

This isn't the first time the Tea Party/Debt Ceiling fiasco was called out abroad.

During the actual fight itself, several German publications expressed horror that Republicans were threatening to put the world's most important market (the US Treasury market) into disarray, thus threatening the entire global economy.