Policy discussions aimed at resolving the debt crises of certain countries on the periphery of the eurozone have been taking place for some time now. However, these discussions have taken a new turn in recent weeks as some European politicians have begun speaking more openly about solutions that might include a "soft" restructuring, rescheduling, or "reprofiling" of bonded eurozone government debt. While these terms are sometimes used loosely or even interchangeably, we've seen a sharp rise in market participants' interest in understanding whether, under Standard&Poor's published criteria, such a restructuring could amount to a default, with the consequence that Standard&Poor's might lower the relevant sovereign's issuer credit rating to "selective default" (SD). A Standard&Poor's
