Reply #38: There are only two ways for an IOU to be meaningless

[hfojvt]

Either the borrower is unwilling to pay them back,
or the borrower is unable to pay them back.
Which of those two scenarios do you think will hold in 2017? How can you be certain of either scenario?
Also, what happens when a borrower becomes unwilling or unable to pay his/her/its debts?
People stop lending money to that borrower, or if they do lend money to that borrower, they demand much higher interest rates to compensate for the increased risk of default. Simply put, the US Government and the world financial system cannot afford to have the US Government default on its debts.