Defaulting on the IMF: a stupid idea whose time had come

This belief — that an implicit official sector guarantee has quietly settled over every sovereign debt instrument issued by every geopolitically significant country on the planet — is a fallacy. The moral hazard implications of allowing this idea to prosper are staggering. More importantly, the official sector lacks the resources to make good on such an implicit guarantee, even if it wanted to do so.

– Lee Buchheit, ‘Sovereign fragility’, 2014

Coming home to roost now though, isn’t it?