kzt wrote:Remember how in the Great Depression banks went bust and took all the deposited money with them? If the government goes bankrupt there is no backstop.
The first thing that happens is capital controls, so no, you can't withdraw your money. Then the government confiscates large parts of it. They they start looking for "looters" and co dis ate their physical property.
That depends. With the Solarian League the Federal Government could go bankrupt but many of the member systems; (particularly the older, stronger core worlds) could still preserve the bulk of their holdings. They would probably suffer at least some economic loss but it would be survivable.
In a sense there has already been an example of this with Earth's Final War. The economic dislocation (let alone the physical destruction) from that would have been immense: (It is actually referenced by Bruce Wijenberg in A Rising Thunder). Yet, throughout it all Manticore Colony Trust's financial holdings; (which had been deposited before they left) still managed to survive & grow to a very respectable balance by the time the Jason arrived in the Manticore System in 1416 PD.
I am not saying it would be not be unpleasant, I am just saying that it could be economically survivable. Remember, when the Western Roman Empire collapsed in the 5th Century CE the Eastern Empire prospered & actually grew for a time.