03 SEP 2010

By Howard Schneider | Washington Post

Will the U.S. government ever default?

It's not a pleasant thought for anyone holding some of the roughly $9 trillion in U.S. government bonds and notes currently in public hands - or for anyone hoping the global economy can stay on an even keel.

But the economists at the International Monetary Fund are paid to ponder the improbable, and in papers published on Wednesday fund staff examined where the U.S. and other developed countries fit on a continuum between easy living and disaster.

We're farther along than you might think.

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