What does default mean?

This question is often bandied about for both federal and state governments. This always bothers me as to how casual the meaning and impacts might be. Now in fairness, this is uncharted territory, and no one really knows what will happen. Neither do I.

In the end, I think, we voters at all levels, federal, state, and local, like county and school boards, will decide what it means. Mostly I think it will mean who we pay, who we don’t pay, and how we will try to muddle through the process. Now much friction will occur during this most painful process. Everything will be up for grabs, to include those making the decisions. Mostly we will try to honor our ancestors and their politician’s obligations because that also helps us.

The big rub will come when people get cold and hungry, and families move into common dwellings, and start to live another way. And all our fellow Americans, to include our entrepreneur class, will also try to survive this suffering. Now that is a wild card, to me.

I suspect much human bitterness will arise that will influence this action. The idea is that we did this to ourselves, and never again may be the motto. I think of this idea in the most basic American idea.

It is fun being an amateur historian because I believe that we can use the examples of our ancestors to guess what we will do now. Now of course these times and we humans and our circumstances are different, but perhaps our human reactions and thoughts and decisions have some commonality. After all, we all love our families and our children, and will always promote their futures.

The last wild card that may affect things, to me, is foreign affairs. Will we be dragged into another regional war, like the Persian Gulf, for their historical reasons. Many may die, especially if it becomes more global, and that idea makes me unhappy. Now appeasement works long enough to kick it downhill, but in the end humans will fight to preserve their way of life and their families way of life.

What a sad state of affairs that there are men and women who can do this to their country, and to us.

Anyway, what does default mean?