Of course this is all bunk. You should know it. The USA has defaulted many, many times from the very beginning ("Continentals" weren't worth a wooden nickel, and so on). Our bankster/moneychanger system is, in effect, a running default; or at least a theft ring.

Look this stuff up. You shouldn't keep falling for their fearmongering and fibs.

Just a quick web search:
http://spectator.org/archives/2009/01/21/was-there-ever-a-default-on-us/print#
http://mises.org/daily/5463/A-Short-History-of-US-Credit-Defaults

defaulting, or raising the limits would be totally unnecessary if they would just stop the insane spending. cut costs in all branches, and stop paying people not to work. welfare and subsidized living should be only for a very short term, not a career, at the expense of the working public.

The dems are acting like spoiled teenagers when the parents are about to take away their credit card.

Yes, it very may well hurt. It definitely will 'inconvenience' a few people. Its going to hurt a lot more in the future when the whole system collapses and government tries to step in to "help" us by making us all marxist slaves.

Its about time people get a real taste of how 'reliable' government is.

When a small business owner is squeezed, he makes a choice to either pay his employees and do w/o a salary or fire everyone and keep on hoping for a better tomorrow.

Where are the sacrifices being made by the lawmakers that are deciding how to spend the taxpayer's money? When, do the upper crust step aside and open up their pockets?

Cut-Cut-Cut seems to be the only word that a weak mind can make. Hurt the old, the disabled and the Vets and feel no shame, is preposperous. Shame on Americans for not sharing the burden and the hardship by those that can very well keep the fires lit. Shame on politicians who don't have the guts to tax on corporations and the wealthy to get the land back into producing.

Blaming one another is a magician's ploy of just hiding the nut in the shell game. Eventually, the "audience" sees all!

There is actually enough set aside that programs like SS could run for several months, maybe as much as 6 months. There would be enough coming in to pay the debt interest, so maybe some parks would be closed and some other non-essential stuff, monuments and so forth.

Clearly something does have to be done, but the deadline date is bogus.

"selling off some of its assets — gold in Fort Knox, buildings, property, even some national parklands"

I don't know how they could sell off gold. Some have said over the last few years that there is no gold in Fort Knox. At the very least it's been moved. Even if we do still have the gold, it is technically pledged against our debt. It may not be what our currency is backed by, but it is an asset of the U.S. Regan was trying to return the country to the gold standard (before he was almost killed) and later he was told it couldn't be done anyway because the gold had already pledged as collateral on our debt at that time. Yes, as far back as the 1980's.

Technically anything the U.S. owns would be. Actually, believe it or not, there is a value placed on every man, woman and child that are citizens of the U.S. as an asset against our debt. That is even a much bigger problem when we think about it. As the majority of the population ages and dies, our country starts to quickly run out of assets.

Guys...wake up. Default is nothing new for this country...look at what's actually happening here:

The investors who had enough money to invest will get their money first. All the promises politicians made to get your vote generations ago will be sacrificed because they know you'll vote for the same bozos again anyway.

Wake up. Quit dreaming. What happens next is up to you. It has always been up to you.

We have what We The People have chosen. We must choose better, or we'll go the way of the soviets...and all foolish, authoritarian nations before us.