you do not default if you are paying interest on your debt. all these top bankers that held a meeting with president obama and top republicans said this prioritization pay the interest first, that will not work. you go past the deadline with no deal, interest rates will go up, stock market prices will go down and the economy will take a very big hit. they are saying prioritization, paying interest first, it won t work. that s what they say. but look at the timetable. between october 17 and november 15 we have to pay $36 billion in interest and we have to pay $50 billion out in medicare, social security and military pay. we have enough money coming in in fox receipts to cover those bills. pry sortization is not required. so you have got a warning from the banks, a warning from china and wall street is yawning.