A wave of bankruptcies sweep financial service companies. Brokerages and management companies implode. Home values drop by a third or more. Loan and mortgage companies succumb. Credit card companies beg the government for a bailout.
Small banks fail and big banks get round after round of government transfusions.
The unthinkable happens. The U.S. government fails to fund certain programs and delays some major payments. Government guarantees on loans gone sour stack up unpaid. Decades of credit expansion disintegrate into a monumental debt collapse that threatens the solvency of the government. The economy is ruined.