Sometimes a system needs a good shock to improve. And at the end of the day, what is the absolute worst that can happen? Cause the upside of this working is definitely worth the risk in my eyes.
then your eyes aren't open. a moment of thought would easily produce outcomes that dont match the risk.
Bond payments to major bond holders are not sent out. At that point, the US can no longer be trusted and the dollar stops being the de facto world currency.
Is that bad enough for you?
One single missed interest payment to Treasury bond holders would be a default, something that has never happened to the US before. Our credit rating would be downgraded, investors all over the world would liquidate their US Treasury bonds, and our borrowing costs would skyrocket, both for government and commercial/consumer loans.
This instantly causes a recession, far worse than what we saw in 2008. A US Treasury default would have catastrophic consequences.
This is one of many catastrophic scenarios possible when messing with a government payment system that handles trillions of dollars in payments.
Any money saved by cancelling payments is going to be used to give people wealthier than you or I a tax cut. Is that really worth the risk?