The market swoon from what would be an unprecedented U.S. default would bludgeon away billions more in wealth. The cost to insure U.S. government debt against default has shot to the highest since the 2007-2009 financial crisis. All of that takes air out the economy's tires and could start to push up the unemployment rate, now at a historically low 3.5%. Some top economic policymakers like those at the Fed had predicted as early as last December that the unemployment rate would be roughly 1 percentage point higher by the end of 2023. A debt crisis and a default, even if only on some of the interest payments due each day, would move it forward, Bostjancic said.

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