The betting odds (at time of writing) on a partial US debt default this year were 6/4 - Default
and 1/2 - No Default
.
Considering the odds, this is something of a wake-up call for nations and institutions with large holdings of US debt. Now while countries can not quickly unwind their US bonds without causing the equivalent of a bank run that would devalue their holdings*; the momentum to do so is likely picking up steam.
My question is: Has any government made the unwinding of their US bonds and currency reserves** a core public policy plank or a law on the books?
* Something that certain unnamed economists and politicians have chortled about over the last 30 years, saying something along the lines of "Hehehe they can't afford to offload our debt so why care?"; all the while forgetting that large ships that turn slowly still turn in the end.
** Bonds and currency are mostly interchangeable debt instruments for the USA. A unusual state of affairs for a fiat-currency, as usually when a country prints money, other countries don't subsidise this habit by buying said currency. But currently the US dollar is both the petrodollar and the global reserve currency; and will remain so until a successor to the Bretton Woods system is decided on.