And now we know why the lemmings in Washington are running closer to the edge of the cliff.  Is that not the message that defaulting on the debt would send the world market?

That the gold plated guarantee that is the full faith and credit of the US Fed.gov is now not an actual guarantee, and therefore if you are actually counting on the money being paid back on time you have a problem, which means that you the T bond investor now require sharply higher interest to offset the actual incurred political risk of not being paid back on time.

There is thread after thread on here about sales being final when you put the cash in my hand, today not tomorrow or someday, the value of your word as your bond, and adding 6 or 10 zeroes behind the kind of money we throw around on land or equipment doesn’t change that fundamental premise.

So yeah, the economic sky would be falling if we default on our debt with lots of unpleasant downstream effects.