U.S. Default Risk is Real

America ALWAYS pays its bills...right?

Well...umm....yes.  We have always figured out a way to beg, borrow, print or use "creative accounting" methods to make good on any payments that we are obligated to make.

So that will NEVER change...right??

Money lenders trust America so implicitly that they generally dismiss the risk it won't pay its debts. But in the US capital, fears are growing that political dysfunction might trigger the unthinkable.
Government veterans from both political parties are aghast that lawmakers openly speak of managing a default that could be triggered next month if they don't authorise more borrowing.

Another reason for concern is that the debate over the debt ceiling appears stuck on a Republican demand for big spending cuts in exchange for raising the $US16.7 trillion ($17.8 trillion) borrowing limit.

This could be too tall an order because Washington is already slashing spending on almost everything but the welfare state. To go further, Congress would likely have to make cuts in sacrosanct programs like pensions and healthcare for the elderly, something lawmakers appear loath to do.

"The ingredients to put together a deal are diminishing," said Tony Fratto of consultancy firm Hamilton Place Strategies, which advises investors on the workings of Washington. "Only the tough choices are there," said Fratto, who was a spokesman at the White House and Treasury during the Bush administration.
Most discussion in Congress in recent days hasn't even been focused on the debt ceiling. Rather, lawmakers are racing to approve legislation to keep most government offices running past this month when budgets are due to expire.

Now even the Treasury secretary, whose role usually includes telegraphing confidence to Wall Street, is expressing concern about the nation's ability to keep paying the bills.

"I am nervous by the desire to drive this to the last minute," Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told a business forum last week. Lew described himself as "anxious."

And well he should be, said Steve Bell, an analyst at the Bipartisan Policy Center, which estimates the government will begin defaulting on its obligations between October 18 and November 5.

Bell, a Republican and a former staff director at the Senate Budget Committee, said he hasn't worried this much about the prospect of default in his four decades in Washington.

A US default would rock Wall Street and quite possibly trigger another economic crisis in a nation still struggling to recover from the 2007-09 recession. Borrowing costs could spike across the economy.

Here;  http://www.smh.com.au/business/world-business/us-default-risk-is-real-washington-warns-wall-street-20130925-2ucxj.html

The "unthinkable" could happen??  What does 'unthinkable' even mean??  After all, I can think about a lot of "what ifs".

Awww...who cares?  They'll figure something out.  I simply can't concern myself with these fancy matters...I have a golf game at 3pm, I'm having dinner with my wife at Applebees at 6:30 and the latest episode of Dancing With The Stars (DWTS) is on at 8PM....says Obama.

"People will be eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, pretty much carrying on as if nothing will ever change...until destruction comes upon them suddenly...as it was in the Days of Noah...so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man."  --Jesus--  (yes, I am paraphrasing)

Hey!...I know what a country should do that's teetering on the very edge of bankruptcy....let's implement a brand new, huge government health care system and call it ObamacCare!!  That should make the people happy!!  They'll love me for it!!