default
The U.S. government will hit the statutory limit on its ability to borrow sometime between mid-February and early March, and unless Congress authorizes an increase in the debt ceiling, the government will not be able to meet all of its financial obligations. While the political squabbling has garnered most of the headlines, there are real financial consequences at stake. In a poll conducted earlier this week in the CFA Institute Financial NewsBrief, we asked readers how they expected financial markets to react if the U.S. failed to resolve its debt ceiling crisis and subsequently defaulted on its debt.
To understand why a judge in New York has to force Argentina to pay its sovereign obligations, we need to go back to 2002, when Argentina defaulted on its debt.