It's a little early to consider that. Whenever you borrow money, bankrutpcy is always an option. If I was a homeowner in Spain who got foreclosed on I would be out in the streets killing cops. Where they ever got this idea that you can loan money to me and get my collateral if I default and still be owed the money from your foolish loan is against all logical economic reasoning. And if you bought a home under those conditions you need to have the police beat your brains out in the street because you are a poor excuse for a reasoning human being. otherwise, we the USA already declared bankruptcy back in the early days, it was no big deal, and we will do it again, no big deal, but it is a little early to be talking about that. That's the US system, everybody does it, borrow as much as they will lend you, and when you hit the limit declare bankruptcy. If you are loaning money to me and you don't understand that is how it is going to end you deserve to be burned for your stupidity. No country, or dynasty, or empire in the history of the world has ever paid off the kind of debt the USA has incurred, so it is just a matter of time before we default. But in the meantime there is still plenty of money to be made loaning to us and investing in us.
Just like a person or company if a country goes into default on it's debts then it's assets should be auctioned off. This is Darwin's Law of the jungle where the weak get taken over by the strong and life goes on. The Socialist do-gooders won't allow it and so the condition of paralysis expands like a disease pulling down others. Over spending politicians largely caused the National sized problems and are now busy blaming others ( the markets ).
No. What, exactly, is the price of QE? potential future inflation? Okay. What's the price of technical default of US sovereign debt? Instant collapse of all international (and most domestic) transactions. Evaporation of pensions, insurance pools, 401ks. So, no - it doesn't sound very good. I get the sense that you don't actually understand how this stuff works....
Inflation through QE is just as bad a default the value is deteriorated. A creditor's agrrement would enable repyament to a degree but most importantly stop debt growing further. A creditor's agreement will just stop the debt from getting more out of hand and take the pressure of the the current economic crisis. It is not a full default that is the point. It is like a haircut on bond repayments it just makes the repayment more manageable. Try and look at it another way. You have an overspend by the government you can cut costs, which is politically difficult and one public service will be affected or you can just arrange to reduce your outgoings more efficiently. A creditor's agreement is when the lenders meet with the debtor to agree terms to make the most effective repayment of outstanding debt viable. So it a restructuring of the debt to make the best arrangement for both parites possible. And actually the price, as you refer to it, of QE is more of an international problem. Not only does the US dollar act as a reserve currency for the world but it is the main currency used to trade oil. If there is a high level of inflation that arises from QE not only would it have a direct impact on the domestic economic of the US pushing many people into poverty but it will have enormous consequences to the global economy, which will come back to haunt them. By entering into a creditor's agreement all that will happen is the debt will stop growing from compounding interest and the payments will be made more favourable (the debt is not written off, it is rearranged). The creditor will continue to get a repayment, all though diminished, and the impact on the wider domestic US economy of the deficit will fall.
The US doesn't have a problem paying the interest. Also, it theoretically won't ever have a problem since its debt is denominated so it's own currency. So, why bother going down the road of defaulting, when doing so is entirely unnecessary.
There is a small group of people in Europe that have ruined a whole continent's economies. Do they even admit it and say sorry ? No they don't ! The crime is probably too big for the legal system to comprehend but I really don't see why they should be allowed to disappear back into the woodwork on huge pensions after such an incompetent performance.
It would not be debasing if it did not have problems with interest payments. Do you not understand the impact increasing the currency units to pay off debt will have on global trade and oil? Not to mention the impact on the domestic economy. A creditors agreement is something that will make the debt more manageable.