Default Merely Faces the Inevitable Sooner Rather Than Later

If the nation defaults on its debt, interest rates go up and there will not be enough money to run the federal - and state - governments any longer. Basically, the programs that we all know will have to be cut just to break even. Or taxes have to be raised significantly.

But a tax increase does not look like it will fly in the current environment: High unemployment, rise of Tea Party conservatism plus all the other reasons people don't want to pay more taxes to get the same thing they had before. But it probably would have happened in a few years anyway: As spending increases, we get ever closer to that fine line between being just above water to being below.

If we cannot solve the problem responsibly, it is far better to see a default happen sooner rather than later when the impact will be more painful, when more government workers will be affected and more entitlement recipients will be dependent.