How does the IMF think people are going to react when, suddenly, the valueof their life savings shrivels with no warning, their pay is effectively slashed, the cost of their mortgage skyrockets and their jobs are in jeopardy as businesses collapse because of ballooning interest rates?
Were American weapons on day-to-day alert to be dismantled or otherwise disabled, however, more than a "launch on warning" option would be foreclosed: The deterrent valueof the United States' arsenal would be eviscerated since, as a practical matter, it would be politically (if not technically) problematic to restore these weapons to operational status.
Even Japan's NTT DoCoMo, which is launching its successful i-mode service in Europe this month, gave warning on March 15th that it may have to write down the valueof some of its overseas investments.