Or a noose. Debt is a double-edged sword - it all depends on if it's structured in a reasonable fashion, and if it used in a productive manner that can pay down promised future payments.
> it all depends on if it's structured in a reasonable fashion
And the ability to structure reasonable debt is contingent on perceived risk to outside investors.
If Venezuela defaults and becomes very high risk, it's unlikely future debts will be favorable towards Venezuela, impacting Venezuela's ability to climb out of the hole, so-to-speak.
Markets tend to think ahead of that. At least I think Venezuelan debt is already now very high risk; after a default, I would not necessarily think it were higher - I would look at the policies adopted by the government and think whether they are consistent and responsible.
In other words, with the current government, it doesn't really matter whether they default or not. They are not very believable in any case.
