@sage...true but the trend is catching up fast and spreading globally from Asia (Russia) to Europe (Iceland is refusing debt servitude) and did not spare Latin America including the Argentines in South America. Countries are facing national bankruptcies...mostly due to huge stocks of external debt.
'Argentina defaulted on part of its external debt at the beginning of 2002. Foreign investment fled the country, and capital flow towards Argentina ceased almost completely. Argentina was "left out of the world." The currency exchange rate (formerly a fixed 1-to-1 parity between the Argentine peso and the U.S. dollar) was floated, and the peso devalued quickly, producing massive inflation.
Large-scale debt restructuring was needed urgently, since the debt had become unpayable. However, the Argentine government met severe challenges trying to refinance its debt. Creditors (many of them private citizens in Spain, Italy, Germany, Japan and other countries, who had invested their savings and retirement pensions in debt bonds) denounced the default; the Italian government lobbied against Argentina in international forums. Vulture funds who had acquired sovereign bonds during the critical moments, at very low prices, asked to be repaid immediately.
The state had no spare money at the time, and the Central Bank's foreign currency reserves were almost depleted. (Moreover, whatever amount left was needed to control the availability of dollars in the local market, in order to prevent further devaluation of the peso.) For four years, Argentina was a pariah, effectively shut out of the international financial markets.
Even as the economic situation improved, the amount of the debt was still the largest defaulted debt in history (about 93,000 million USD), and Argentina was in no position to pay without sacrificing essential parts of its budget.
The Argentine government kept a firm stance, and finally got a deal by which 76% of the defaulted bonds were exchanged by others, of a much lower nominal value (25–35% of the original) and at longer terms...Debt bonds not exchanged in 2005 accounted for 23,381 million USD, of which 12,688 million were already overdue. Because of the lack of payment to these creditors, Argentina is the only member of the G-20 that is unable to raise capital in the international financial markets...
http://en.wikipedia.org/...tine_debt_restructuring
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/...b49a.html?nclick_check=1