I have thought for 30 years that the only way out of the national debt is default. There is no way we can ever tax ourselves enough to actually pay it off. There are two ways we might default: honestly and dishonestly. The first would be to just stiff our (foolish) creditors and face the consequences. The dishonest way is to inflate our currency to the point where we can get to say we “paid in full” with grossly devalued dollars. Our creditors are no better off than if we simply repudiated the debt, but perhaps the immediate political consequences would be less. The office holders at the time of default would save a bit of face.
Either way, the United States Government would lose all access to credit and would have to pay as it went with either a hard currency or other assets of value. Government would be forced to shrink, and those of us who have enjoyed low taxes relative to government expenditures would also have to pay for what we get (or, better, do without it). My hope is that, after a harrowing and unpredictable period of adjustment, that the underlying wealth of our natural resources and the productivity of our citizenry would return us to an acceptable standard of living.
Most countries in history have chosen a different form of default.
They stiff foreign creditors and pay domestic ones.
Stiffing domestic creditors is hazardous to government officials’ health—even worse than cigarettes!