Great Default

“Great Default” is a term coined and popularized by the economist Gary North, borrowing “great” from names such as the “Great Depression” and the “Great Recession.” “The general public does not understand that a great default is coming,” North wrote in May 2007 (before the Great Recession). “There will be a great default. The question is when, not if,” North wrote in November 2008. A July 2009 article was titled “When Atlas Shrugs: The Great Default.” The term was capitalized for the first time:
 
“The Great Default is coming. Count on it.”
 
The “Great Default” is when the United States government defaults on its debts. North clearly defined the expression in January 2012:
 
“The system will not be reformed until the Great Default arrives, i.e., when the Federal Reserve finally refuses to buy government debt.”
   
     
Wikipedia: Gary North (economist)
Gary Kilgore North (born February 1942) is an economic historian and publisher who prolifically writes on topics including economics, history, and Christian theology.
 
LewRockwell.com
May 14, 2007
Debt: An Inescapable Concept
Part 1: Social Debt
by Gary North
(...)
The general public does not understand that a great default is coming. This is why the American household savings rate has fallen to zero in recent years and has even gone negative in some periods: the sale of assets to fund consumption. What had been promised in 1935 as a supplemental program for old age security has become the primary source of most Americans’ security. But the system is statistically unsound.
   
LewRockwell.com
November 5, 2008
A Debt Beyond Redemption
by Gary North
The word “redeem” means “buy back.” It is used in Christian theology to describe what Jesus did for mankind in general (common grace) and individuals (special grace). It was used during the era of the gold standard to describe the right of a holder of paper money to redeem this money for gold coins at a fixed price.
 
The debt of the United States government is now beyond redemption.
 
The only way for this debt to be redeemed officially is through mass inflation. If this is the way of redemption, then the economy is beyond redemption.
 
There will be a great default. The question is when, not if.
 
LewRockwell.com
July 22, 2009
When Atlas Shrugs: The Great Default
by Gary North
(...)
At some point, that debt will not find a market. The great default will then take place. At that point, Congress’s IOU’s will become IOU Nothings.
 
The Great Default is coming. Count on it.
         
LewRockwell.com
November 2, 2009
What Is Money?
Part 11: The Great Default
by Gary North
(...)
Because a default on all Treasury debt would have such widespread consequences — immediate consequences — economists have argued that this will not be allowed to happen. The central bank will buy the debt. But if it does, at some point it must stop buying or else create hyperinflation. Hyperinflation has the same consequence as default and deflation: a contraction in the division of labor.
 
I know of only one economist who predicts an outright default: Jeffrey Rogers Hummel. On August 3, 2009, he published an article on the free market site, Library of Economics and Liberty: “Why Default on U.S. Treasuries is likely.” His argument is simple: the only alternative is the Zimbabwe option: hyperinflation.
     
LewRockwell.com
July 21, 2011
Good News on Taxes
by Gary North
(...)
Future generations will elect new politicians who will stiff the trusting, naive holders of government debt. There will be a Great Default. There is no escape. There is no way to grow our way out of this.
 
LewRockwell.com
January 12, 2012
Collapse, No. Huge Losses, Guaranteed
by Gary North
(...)
The system will not be reformed until the Great Default arrives, i.e., when the Federal Reserve finally refuses to buy government debt. We are years away from that day.
   
LewRockwell.com
September 26, 2012
Five Mainstream Economists Sound a Warning
by Gary North
(...)
Nothing will change Congress. Nothing will change the executive. There will be no cutback in spending until the numbers force the Great Default.
 
The Market Oracle
Nothing Will Change Until the Great Debt Default, Will you be Prepared?
Sep 26, 2012 - 05:51 AM
By: Gary_North
(...)
Nothing will change Congress. Nothing will change the executive. There will be no cutback in spending until the numbers force the Great Default.
(The same article as the above, but with a different headline—ed.)