US PRESS: The NY Times notes that 2012 also is the beginning of a
three-year period in which more than $700 billion in risky, high-yield
corporate debt begins to come due, an extraordinary surge that some
analysts fear could overload the debt markets. With huge bills about to
hit corporations and the federal government around the same time, the
worry is that some companies will have trouble getting new loans,
spurring defaults and a wave of bankruptcies, the paper says. The US
government alone will need to borrow nearly $2 trillion in 2012, to
bridge the projected budget deficit for that year and to refinance
existing debt, the NYT adds.