Quote

After everyone has had a chance to bluster, posture, and pontificate, we are left with one basic question: under any foreseeable circumstance, would it be in our national interest to default on our debt? The answer is unequivocally no.

Nobody wants the United States to default on its debt. Nobody. But, at some point in time, we've got to address the fiscal woes of this nation.

I certainly don't want our nation to go into default, but at the same time, I'm very concerned about our ongoing debt problem.

If we reach the debt ceiling, we don't have to default. Getting to that point just won't allow us to reach new debt.

A default on our debts as a result of not meeting our obligations would be a disaster for the stock market, and Americans would see their retirement funds shrivel up.

I do not want America to default on its debt.

Nobody wants to put the creditworthiness of the United States in jeopardy. Nobody wants to see the United States default. So we've got to seize this moment, and we have to seize it soon.

The truth is that the United States doesn't need, and shouldn't have, a debt ceiling. Every other democratic country, with the exception of Denmark, does fine without one.

You know, we've got to be responsible about our debt. We don't want the United States to ever be a dead beat, and not be able to pay its bills, either to our soldiers who are fighting or to Social Security recipients.

The best companies with the strongest credit ratings borrow like the United States: on a non-prioritized basis. This means that in the event of a default, all of their debts are of equal priority because lenders and creditors believe default is highly unlikely. And they spend considerable effort maintaining this status.