The Misguided Cult of the Bear  Over the past month I've watched
journalist after journalist trot out financial expert after
financial expert to describe -- in quite graphic detail -- how
exactly the world will come to an end should the U.S. fail to
raise the debt ceiling and miss a coupon payment. These experts,
who are accomplished people with long careers in finance,
engaged in an arms race to find the most sensational adjective
to describe the death and destruction that would inevitably
ensue in such a scenario. Then there was one particular article
making its rounds in the blogs and social media. It said that,
since the amount of U.S. government debt outstanding was 24x
what Lehman Brothers owed its creditors, the crisis resulting
from a failure to raise the debt ceiling would be 24x as bad.
Look, a technical default would not be a good thing -- I am not
trying to minimize the situation at all -- but that is stupid
logic. For sure, there would be some market volatility. But
let's use our heads for a sec