Quote Originally Posted by maladroit
and if you can't afford health insurance, you have to pay severge out of pocket expenses with your life? going back to your $30,000 car analogy, your life would be a steep price to pay if dying was the only alternative to replacing your transportation when you've fallen on hard times...very dickensian...great time to be alive...let's bring back debtor's prisons for the mortgage bums while we're at it:
Debtors' prison - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
No, you do not have to make payments with ones life, you could work with the hospital to figure out a payment plan; just like if you were to purchase a car. And since your life is more valuable (hopefully) than some object, there is all the more incentive to do so. I would love nothing more to see a sample survey of people who do not have health insurance, and the things they buy instead. Some people do slip between the cracks, but that is few and far between. Negligence IMHO and from what i see here, plays a very big role.

that article is not obscure...bloomberg is a respected media organization, and i could easily throw up a half dozen links to other media organizations carrying that report...besides, it's a real statistic so dispute the statsitic, not the report...the risk of default on US treasury notes is at an all time high, even if that high is not as bad as the default risk on countrywide...:

U.S. Treasuries' debt protection costs jump to record | Markets | Markets News | Reuters

For First Time, Treasury Notes Are Riskier Than German Bunds - March 12, 2008 - The New York Sun
During WWII, the debt/GDP ratio was 12/10. Comparing it to now where it is around 8/10, there is not nearly as much risk as before. That was a time of even greater uncertainty, and there were 0 defaults on US issued debt. Why is it you refuse to accept certainties. If 1 note issued on behalf of the US government defaults, in essence it is the same as all defaulting because it would cause a world wide panic in EVERY financial market. It would cause hyperinflation of the dollar, yet deflation to all other foreign currencies as the US is the biggest importer of goods in the world.

Insurance on US guaranteed debt is like insurance on the world ending. It will not matter, therefore your point does not matter. Yields are still relatively low, hence it does not matter. Why have yields declined?

Red herring arguments only weaken your stance. You are trying to come up with any possible way to discredit the guarantee of US guaranteed debt, and fail miserably. Its guaranteed, end of story, and time for you to move on...

the point is that there isn't supposed to be ANY risk on us treasury notes, but the media has been reporting about the increasing risk for at least six months
There is always risk. Nuclear war, aliens, huge comets colliding with the earth, etc... pose a risk to US debt defaulting. There was still "risk" in the form of which you are bringing up in 1998, when the Economy was at an all time high (adjusting for inflation).

It is now all to obvious you really do not know what you are talking about...