Default is not in our stars, but in ourselves

"Buttonwood", at The Economist, put the default-avoiding federal budget agreement into perspective.

"Investors who bought Treasury bonds in 1946, when yields were around current levels, did not suffer a formal default. But over the following 35 years they lost money in real terms at a rate of 2% a year. The cumulative real loss was 91%. By that standard, Greek creditors, who recently suffered a 50% loss via default, were lucky."