Europe ponders letting bailed-out nations default

The L.A. Times reports:

The unthinkable has become the inevitable three times in Europe's debt crisis: First Greece, then Ireland and now Portugal have all appealed to their neighbors to bail them out after insisting they would never do so.

Now a growing number of economists are urging European finance officials to take a rare and drastic step: Let one or more of the countries go into default.

Euphemistically it's called restructuring their debt, a move that would involve easing the terms of the loans and possibly writing off a portion altogether. Despite the initial shock such a move would cause, advocates say it offers the best chance for the countries' economies to get up and running again rather than remain crippled by debt that becomes ever more of a burden, not less.

Deflation and the realization that a giant welfare state is unaffordable. Common sense.