The Impending Threat of U.S. Default and Its Consequences.

The US risks economic calamity if Congress and the White House can’t pass a debt deal by June 1. If the nation breaches the debt ceiling, the Treasury Department would first miss critical government benefits like Social Security, federal salaries, tax refunds and more. Once the US starts missing payments, “things go from being bad, to worse, to catastrophic” in a matter of days. A credit downgrade could happen before the US actually runs out of cash.