US default would trigger 'significant volatility' and 'breakages' in financial system, SEC Chairman warns
CNN
Gary Gensler, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, warned lawmakers Tuesday that a US default would likely set off historic stress in financial markets because Treasuries are the bedrock of the entire system.
"Although we don't know for sure, we'd have significant volatility in the markets and we'd see some breakages in the system, but I couldn't predict which firms," Gensler said during the House Financial Services Committee hearing.
Gensler, who previously served as a senior official at the Treasury Department and led the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, added that there is great uncertainty over what would happen to mortgages, auto loans and money market funds — as well as the banks that rely on money market funds.
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