( CNN ) -- Countries rarely default , at least not under the basic understanding of the term . If you or I ca n't pay our bills and creditors come calling , eventually we can declare bankruptcy and painfully move on . Most of our creditors get little or nothing back . And companies to do it all the time -- indeed , it seems a matter of course for U.S. airlines . But countries do n't really go bankrupt . They choose to stop paying , one way or another . The difference ? Countries get new tax payers every day . They are born or they migrate . Countries can not become insolvent . They stop paying to save money . READ MORE : Nine things we missed during the shutdown . How do they choose to default ? Politicians can flirt with financial suicide , as some members of the U.S. Congress are fond of doing . But let 's be clear , the U.S. was not going to default . The showdown was just politics . `` The United States has enormous credibility and is at no risk of default , '' Anne Pettifor , of Prime Economics , told me . `` In my view there is no possibility whatsoever of the USA defaulting on its debt . '' So , the USA can not really default , thanks in part to a strong Federal Reserve and international creditors still wanting to buy its bonds , no matter how low the interest rate falls . But other countries have chosen to default , at least in theory . From Argentina to Russia to North Korea , countries have stopped paying the interest or principle on domestic or international obligations . In Russia 's case , it was able to pay back creditors within a few years , thanks to the rise of energy prices . Russia did not walk away from its creditors . READ MORE : Five most surprising things in debt deal . Argentina was a much tougher case . When it stopped paying creditors in late 2001 , it caused a great deal of pain for its citizens in 2002-2003 . Its efforts to settle with creditors still bubble up in New York courts . No one can say Argentina has fully recovered its reputation in the international markets . Some bondholders simply refuse to take a portion of what they are owed and move on . They want their money back . Still its economy grew quickly within a few years of default . Does that mean that defaulting is not a terrible step ? After all , it means a country can get a handle on its obligations . `` The debts become more manageable and therefore the country becomes more creditworthy , '' Pettifor said . Then , however , `` the creditors pile in . '' READ MORE : Conservatives defiant in face of GOP troubles . Nazi Germany defaulted in 1933 . The new government was not going to honor the obligations of the previous leaders . We all know how that went . It was decades before some of the German debt was paid back in a token way . No eurozone country has unilaterally refused to pay its bills . The market made it impossible for the like of Ireland and Greece to issue new bonds at a sustainable interest rate . New creditors stepped in , instead of walking away . We know them as the troika -- made up of the European Central Bank , European Union and International Monetary Fund . Greece 's meltdown led to bondholders taking the `` haircut , '' yet the country is set to take another package of aid . But it ca n't inflate its currency ( it lost that option when it joined the euro ) and ca n't default ( for the same reason ) . READ MORE : U.S. must shake this addiction to debt -- or kill the recovery . The latest plan is not the bailout , but the `` bail-in . '' Look at Cyprus . Bond holders hold off , the depositors pay up ( those forced to bail-in ) and everyone holds their breath hoping the country can rebuild its economy and banking sector and eventually pay back something . After all , the troika expects to be paid back . If not , that would be a default . All this makes you wonder why the USA would even want to be mentioned in the same breath or paragraph with these countries .
Individuals and businesses default -- but countries rarely do , at least in the traditional sense . Some politicians suffered financial losses but the government was not at risk of default . Other countries have defaulted -- including Argentina and Russia . And some , history shows , have been economically better off for having done so .