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In The Debt We Trust: The Unconstitutionality Of Defaulting On American Financial Obligations, And The Political Implications Of Their Perpetual Validity, Zachary K. Ostro

Student Articles and Papers

Starting in August 2011, America has undergone a series of fiscal and political crises surrounding the threat of defaulting on the national debt and the need to raise the debt ceiling. These crises have caused tremendous stress and irreparable harm to our financial markets and political system, causing a downgrade in United States debt for the first time in history, forcing drastic budget cuts, and contributing to a sixteen-day government shutdown this past October. What is most unfortunate, however, is that all of this was preventable for the simple reason that, as a matter of constitutional law, defaulting on the …