If any of Portugal, Ireland, Greece or Spain were to openly threaten default on sovereign debt or, better still, JUST DO IT, The Powers That Be would have other things to worry about than general strikes. Why let the best crisis in years go to waste? The resulting cascading failures is the only likely way that the elites can be forced to take anything like their share of the hit for all of the bad debt. Call it the Counter Shock Doctrine.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."