I never thought of this whacky solution before, nor heard it mentioned with respect to sovereigns, but maybe the path of least political resistance to deal with the unstoppable debt mountain, without just printing dollars, is to do the next best thing:

IPO.

The USG goes and lists itself on the Exchange. NYSE or Nasdaq?

In any normal corporate restructuring, for a going concern (and the government can be expected to live forever as long as the military holds up) the bond holders either get a haircut, or equity in the new enterprise, or both.

So why don’t we offer to exchange some of the debt for equity, and IPO it!

Benefits to shareholders would include potential dividends on budget surpluses, or maybe effectively some kind of income tax rebate. Or the spoils of war. It would also motivate shareholders to be activists to encourage surpluses, and the monetization of dormant assets.

Sovereign Equity to go along with Sovereign Debt. Other nations would soon follow. You could make fascinating long/short pairs trades. Indeed, “hostile takeovers” would have a whole new meaning.

And then we’d be one step closer to Neal Stephenson’s fictional world of Snowcrash, with the world run by quasi-sovereign and NGO franchises…