As US default nears, investors shrug off threat

``Yet you wouldn't know that a U.S. debt default could amount to a nightmare from the way many companies and investors are preparing for it: They aren't. The assumption seems to be that in the end, Washington will find a way to avert a default... a key reason many seem unprepared for it: Why bother if you can't really protect yourself? Or, as an official response from France's Total oil company put it, "Nobody can imagine the consequences, so we don't have any plans." -- Don't buy gold, obviously! (Good work, Exchange Stabilization Fund!)