A potential default on U.S. treasury bonds isn't as unprecedented as politicians would have you think. In 1979, the U.S. failed to make timely payments to its bondholders â and the results weren't pretty. Robert Siegel speaks with Ball State University finance professor Terry Zivney, who co-authored a journal article called "The Day the United States Defaulted on Treasury Bills," about the results of that last default. http://www.npr.org/2011/07/11/137773341/looking-at-when-the-u-s-last-defaulted-on-treasury-bonds