Two or three years ago, it was said that if even four relatively small countries defaulted on their debts, it would be the beginning of the death spiral of economic collapse, just like pulling the plug in a bathtub. You know what's going on with Greece, but Portugal, Venezuela, Ireland, Ukraine, Lebanon, Croatia, Vietnam, Spain, Hungary and Romania are wobbling financially. And the U.S. isn't in good shape, either.
My understanding is that it's really the Eurozone countries that are the issue. Normally a country would avoid defaulting on their debts by printing more money; this causes inflation but allows them to cover their debts. However only the European Central Bank can print Euros, not the countries themselves.
Countries like Greece and Italy just didn't figure out they couldn't keep spending and borrowing like in the pre-Euro days.
The other part of the problem is the 2 stable countries in the Eurozone are also the ones that lent a lot of money to the guys that are set to default. So its not simply that the PIGS (Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain) may default, but in doing so they would deal a crippling blow to France and Germany.
Back on topic, it might be more important to reduce personal debt as much as possible as soon as possible than it is to stockpile supplies.
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