Ron Paul: Defaulting on Debt is the United States's Best Hope

In his usual rogue style, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, wrote on Monday in a Bloomberg News op-ed that the only solution to the debt-ceiling stalemate in Washington is default – the exact thing most lawmakers are feverishly trying to avoid.

Calling his own expectations of a default scenario “more sanguine” than those who fear that failing to meet the August 2 deadline “is unprecedented and will result in calamity,” Paul pointed out three 20th-century instances in which he said the U.S. government defaulted on its obligations, and argued that the current situation is far less dire.