Quote from Ivanovich:
Regardless of what insanity does ensue, I assure you, the United States will be one of the countries to suffer the least, despite what you're hearing from the Fabers of the world. The defaulting county ALWAYS gets out of it ahead.
Countries like China (hell, most of Asia) and Russia will have the financial equivalent of a nuclear bomb going off in their main financial centers.
The EU? Please. Germany might get out of it with major burns, but the euro would be toast, as it would rise to infinity (in comparison to the dollar AND asian currencies that are pegged to the dollar). Countries like Spain and Ireland would have thrown the EU to the wolves and taken their chances on their own- where they too can devalue. Italy? Please. France would burn as rioters there would essentially take out the country as the government stalled (they do very little that meets the "just in time" heading).
Australia would sink into the ocean as China would go full-blown protectionist (more so than now). Canada would see it's #1 trade partner evaporate as the US goes protectionist as well. The price of oil would head into the 1000 area, if not beyond, choking everything that does not run on solar or some other form of electricity.
Sure, gold would be launched into orbit, if it werent' confiscated by then, but who would you sell it to?
Goldbugs always secretly giggle in glee at the thought of financial Armageddon, but they rarely think things through. What they SHOULD be hoping for (if they're going to be morbidly hoping for something) is a GRADUAL decline of the dollar. That will give them the best bang for their buck.