That causes a QUICK fiscal crisis ---

(Romina, MA and BS degrees in economics from George Mason University, Romina Boccia is director of budget and entitlement policy at the Cato Institute, where she specializes in federal spending, budget process, economic implications of rising debt, and Social Security and Medicare reform. Boccia was previously director of the Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget at the Heritage Foundation, “The Debt Limit and the High Costs of Debt,” pg online @ //um-ef)

Increased risk of a sudden fiscal crisis. If lawmakers allow debt to continue to climb rapidly, the United States could be confronted with a worst‐​case scenario in which investors might become increasingly worried that the United States might service its debt by inflating away the value of its bonds. Eventually, bond holders could lose confidence in U.S. Treasury bonds and dump their holdings, triggering a quickly spiraling fiscal crisis. A sudden decline in the market value of outstanding Treasury securities would cause significant losses for mutual funds, pensions, insurance companies, and banks. These losses could cause major financial institutions to fail resulting in widespread economic harm.