There are Beast Everywhere, Even in America; No Shutdown Deal in Sight After White House Meeting

President Obama and leaders of both houses of Congress left a 90-minute meeting at the White House this evening no more closer to ending a government shutdown.

Neither side gave any indication that the talks, however cordial, moved them toward a compromise.

"They will not negotiate," House Speaker John Boehner told reporters after leaving the West Wing. "We had a nice conversation, a light conversation, but at some point we've got to allow the process the Congress gave us to work out."

Boehner insists that Democrats in the Senate send negotiators to a conference with House Republicans to work out the differences between the two sides on the budget.But Democratic leaders Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the president reiterated that they would hold firm in their position.

"This has never happened before, for a political party to be will willing to take the country to the brink of financial disaster," said Reid, the Senate majority leader. "We're through playing these little games."

Pelosi, House minority leader, warned that the combination of the government shutdown and the threat of a default if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling by Oct. 17 would be "cataclysmic."

Earlier in the day, President Obama, in an interview with CNBC, said he was "exasperated" by a continued standoff, and warned that financial executives would be wise to be concerned that Congress might fail to raise the debt ceiling.

"When you have a situation in which a faction is willing to potentially default on U.S. government obligations, then we are in trouble," he said.

"And if they're willing to do it now, they'll be willing to do it later."