Height of Irresponsibility

Let's role play for a moment...

You are the CEO for a charity.  You have a strategy to grow those services, based on commitments you made to the board of directors, which selected you for the job.  In the past, you have borrowed money to fund worthy programs that your charity supports, and you have accumulated a debt that takes 10% of the money you take in to service.  That debt, over the years, has taken many forms and comes from many sources...banks, corporations, and individuals.  Part of the reason it has been so easy to accumulate the debt is because of your benefactors.  You have wealthy benefactors you can count on for roughly 60% of your operating needs, but you need to find the other 40% from somewhere else, because your budget for services rendered has grown so large.

Your benefactors are wise.  They placed certain controls in your company's charter.  You have an upper limit on which you can borrow, and you have to go back to them and ask to have it raised if you want to spend more than you take in.  This has also built additional confidence with your current debt holders, but more importantly, your future debt holders.  You have always paid your debts because your benefactors are so reliable and because these controls provide a reality check on growing services larger than can be sustained.

Your benefactors recently have grown concerned that the debt limits have grown so large, they have been reluctant to allow you to grow it any larger.  Your charity is very popular and many people know about it.  So, you have a plan...you and your CFO are going to go on TV and tell everyone that if the benefactors do not raise the company's debt limit, you may default on your debt holders debt payments.  Everyone hears the message, including future debt holders, because remember, you still have to borrow to sustain to your budget.

Height of irresponsibility?

Consider this...President Obama is the CEO of the United States, elected by the Board of Directors who also happen to be the wealthy benefactors, Tim Geitner is the CFO.  The debt holders really are banks, corporations, and individuals.

How have their actions been any different than the role play?