So if the USA defaults August 2nd, what will happen?

[Nouw]

People will come to New Zealand >

 

[badgersprite]

A massive yard sale where you pawn off your old nukes and space shuttles you never used and then you move back into your parents' place (England, I guess) and chill in the attic while you attempt to make ends meet.

 

[Dr. wonderful]

Bascially, if we can't pay for this shit the four things will happen:

1) We lose the perfect credit
2) The US dollar will be useless
3)We, as in americans will go straight into an depression
4) Oh and the world economy might collaspe.

Other then that, Everything apples.

It good to see that you can keep up with the jokes.

What can I say? Being poor is what I can do best, when the your world is going to shit, might as well laugh your ass off.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Well, the "actual" problems won't happen the second they announce it, they'll build up over time. It's the loss of confidence which'll be the immediate issue, which is a problem in of itself.

 

[Tiger Sora]

Can everything go Road Warrior. I want to be eating my soup outa some nerds skull. A regular bowl just seems sucha bother with a spoon, when I can just pour it out an eye socket.
Damn that sounds black, but dark times make for dark choices.

Or they'll just raise it last second crisis averted and in 2 years the same problem will be back.

 

[Zakarath]

It'll be pretty bad. The stock markets are dropping pretty quickly on just the possibility that the US might default; if we actually do, the markets will plunge, there will be a massive loss in confidence in the US Economy, and we'll be back to late 2008 again.

 

[Suijen]

A massive yard sale where you pawn off your old nukes and space shuttles you never used and then you move back into your parents' place (England, I guess) and chill in the attic while you attempt to make ends meet.

So 300,000,000 Americans will mosey down to the UK and ride off the backs of Englishman? That sounds acceptable.

 

[The_Vigilant]

I can't bring myself to give a fuck. It sounds like Y2K/The Red Menace all over again. America is like the boy who cried wolf. We're so scared of our own shadows, I've gotten used to it, so I think every crisis will just be another dud.

You're right to feel this way. Our government would simply print the money long before we ever actually "default."

The entirety of Congress is taken out back and shot and we bring in a new congress who will fix everything

If only.

 

[DaHero]

First world nations can't default. Stop listening to the fear-mongering bullshit that a certain part of your media likes to propagate.
If the USA was even close to defaulting, they'd raise taxes, cut spending or, you know, just move out of Iraq.

Except that they're not, too busy arguing about who to blame for the whole mess.

 

[newfoundsky]

It's not like other countries can just come and collect by force. So, probably nothing. They can refuse to trade with us, but then we won't be trading with them, so they'll have to try and trade with others, but they can't because they'll also trade with us and. . . you see where I'm going?

Essentially: Loss of confidence. Then, nothing.

 

[kickyourass]

Everyone outside the US will laugh at you, for one.

Whatever the results "Actually" are, there will be a massive loss in confidence in the US government/economy, which will fuck things right up in of itself. All that time and money spent putting the US economy back together again? Possibly all of it would be wasted.

Not to mention, another kicking for various other fragile economies around the world.

On the other hand, those of us living in Australia will continue to be mostly unaffected, except that it'd be harder to get tourists to come here and spend money.

Yeah, that seems to sum it up nicely.
I don't know exactly what would happen in reality, but if it happens (And at this rate it probably will) it's not gonna be good. But hopefully the experience will teach a few lessons for who ever's left in charge.

 

[Avatar Roku]

It won't happen. It's just a political thing. The Republicans are just seeing what they can get for it. Or at least, that's the way, by my read, it was at first.

This is my largely uninformed opinion, but my read has been that, at first, Boehner was just using this as a minor bargaining chip, but it ended up being blown out of proportion by both sides, and now, due to the typical political bs, it really may not end up happening.

 

[Xanadu84]

Don't worry, its very unlikely to happen. Both parties, and everyone even remotely in a leadership position, want to raise the debt ceiling. Republicans are wasteing time trying to A) pressure Democrats into conceding on a number of points before they, "Give" them a debt ceiling increase they both want. That way they can B) More believably blame Democrats for increasing the overall debt. It's basically like a guy with a bomb on his vest threatening to blow everyone up if he doesn't get a million dollars, and the fact that hes not crazy enough to sacrifice his life doesn't change the fact that no one else can be sure of that fact. So rather then risk him in fact being crazy, they give in to his demands. Except somehow, the guy threatening everyone gets to blame the other guy not just for losing the million dollars, but also for letting a crazy person with a bomb in in the first place.

The worst part is that Obama probably could all but guarantee his re-election right now. All he would have to do is frame the debate in such a way that he is giving into certain fringe right wingers and not raising the ceiling, and then pointing to the right wingers when the economy collapses. Everyone would see Obama giving into the right, and the rights ideologies ruining the country. The problem of course is that Obama doesn't want the economy to collapse because, well, he lives here.

 

[Gudrests]

First world nations can't default. Stop listening to the fear-mongering bullshit that a certain part of your media likes to propagate.

You're wrong, as evidenced by the default of Greece, Spain, Portugal, and Ireland which has contributed to the almost complete meltdown of their economies.

Basically, the government doesn't take in enough money for all the programs it runs. So to make up for the gap in revenues and what is actually required, they issue what are called bonds. For the most part, these are only worth between 50 and a couple hundred dollars and are mostly bought by your average citizen. Now there are also a type that are worth much more than that and are bought up by other countries for the most part. Now, if we were to default on our loans this would make the US's credit score go down, thus showing potential investers that the US is a less than secure investment, thus driving up the interest rates we pay to those countries that have purchased the bonds. So really, it means the the government will either not have as much money because other entities aren't buying our bonds, or the government is having pay even more in interest due to the lowered credit rating.

There are other things at work, but that is a basic explanation of why a default would be bad.

The funny thing is....a country like china who invests in us....Cant really do much about it. They get paid what we pay them and they can't tell us THE INTEREST RATE IS UP MORE MONEY PER YEAR THANK YOU....because they cant harm us or take anything away...Besides most of the money for bonds is domestic

 

[Littlee300]

Everyone outside the US will laugh at you, for one.

Definitely not. If the US in major trouble Japan and China will most likely prop the US up.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Crazy republicans will push for impeachment. Police officers will be laid off. Riots, etc.

Edit: For the oblivious here is a easy to understand but not very informative comic on the debt ceiling problem.
http://havoconthehill.com/

 

[zehydra]

It's going to hurt the global economy more than anything else, which of course will backlash against us and hurt us economically.

Basically, I'd be worried if I was European

 

[CthulhuMessiah]

Game over, man. Game over!

 

[zehydra]

It's not like other countries can just come and collect by force. So, probably nothing. They can refuse to trade with us, but then we won't be trading with them, so they'll have to try and trade with others, but they can't because they'll also trade with us and. . . you see where I'm going?

Essentially: Loss of confidence. Then, nothing.

Except other countries aren't the only ones doing business with the US. There are a LOT of private investments in the US.

 

[Dirzzit]

Here's what will actually happen:

1.Interest rates will go up (credit card, mortgage)
2.Countries will stop trading with the US (It's like not paying your rent)
3.The stock market could possibly crash
4.Banks will seize everything they can to prevent getting hurt

Contrary to everyone's beliefs in this thread, This will FUCK THE US UP. Remember what happened to Greece? It will be worse, A lot worse.

 

[Kopikatsu]

People will come to New Zealand >

Are you kiddin'? I wanted to move to New Zealand, but I was told that you need a referral or some kind of BS. SUCH MADNESS.