When is a Non-Default a Default?

'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.'

'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many different things.'

'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master — that's all.'

The US Government, according to most press reports, has, by virtue of a last minute- a self-designated limit, it seems worth noting- deal, avoided default.  Amazingly, both the process and situation are even more confusingly convoluted than my opening sentence. 

Imagine a world in which the debtor determines whether or not he is in default.  In that world defaults would be rare events indeed.  Alas for the debtors, but fortunately for the solvent, our world doesn't work that way, no matter how things might appear. 

In our world, debtors don't determine default, creditors do. 

Here's what some important US Government creditors have recently been saying:

1) China: (Xinhua News) With its debt already almost equaling its gross domestic product, the United States, as a major anchor of the increasingly globalized world economy and the issuer of the dominant international reserve currency, needs to roll out more responsible and effective measures to balance its budget and restore the economic health of itself and the world.

2) Russia: (Reuters) They are living beyond their means and shifting a part of the weight of their problems to the world economy...They are living like parasites off the global economy and their monopoly of the dollar. - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin

3) China: (RawStory) China's foreign exchange reserves will continue following the principle of diversified investment, enhancing risk management and minimising the negative impact of volatility in global financial markets," People's Bank of China governor Zhou Xiaochuan said in a statement.

"Large fluctuations and uncertainty in the US treasury bond market will affect the stability of international monetary and financial systems, which will hurt the global economic recovery."

Also on Wednesday, the Chinese ratings agency Dagong downgraded the United States for the second time since November, with a continuing negative outlook.

Meanwhile my preferred measure of US credit worthiness (and market in which nations of less military prowess might express their views more safely), the value of Gold in US$s continues to set new records.

With combined holdings on some $1.28T of US Treasuries, China and Russia are, unlike the US, in a position to declare the US in default, which brings us back to the big egg.  Humpty Dumpty's great fall might prove prophetic (and hopefully, beneficially cathartic) but it's his words that haunt me.

The question is, which is to be the master- that's all. 

Once words (like default, creditworthy, war, ally, etc.) lose their agreed upon, dictionary meanings, might is eventually used to make right.  The US Kabuki Play that was the debt ceiling debate has apparently failed to convince our militarily armed creditors we have jumped back from the abyss.  They seem to think our non-default still looks like a near default, and are taking action.  Will we continue our dance, putting off hard (but oh-so-necessary) decisions hoping to distract our creditors with drama, or will we make honest strides towards resolving our debt issues, which, first and foremost, must include growth policies (of the non-rent-seeking kind)? 

As an aside, the notion that our debt problems can be solved simply through broad spending cuts or tax increases is absurd to me (and likely to our creditors).  If the US economy does not resume growing fast the Washington crowd can crow about avoiding default all they want, but the rest of the world will know otherwise and act accordingly. 

If the Washington crowd chooses the former "more of the same" option, we might have to have a contest (a.k.a. War) to answer Humpty Dumpty's question- which is the master?

In hindsight, it might have been better to self-declare default and immediately start picking up the pieces instead of watching and waiting while the big egg teeters on the precipice.  After all, we know how the rhyme ends.

Luckily, capitalism doesn't require putting the pieces back together again.  Indeed, capitalism works best when the broken pieces are used to make newer, better things than a silly egg on a wall, destined to fall.

Full Disclosure: Long Gold