I am not going to pretend to know exactly what the future holds, but when Standard & Poor’s says MNI will default on its over $1b. in debt by early next year, I pay attention. This analysis comes on the heels of the company’s spectacularly unsuccessful attempt to re-work that debt, which resulted only in a fraction of the relief the MNI wanted. Case in point, the company wanted $60m. in cash, got $3.4m.

And cash is the great unknown going forward. Creditors could always rework terms, but you need cash-flow to keep the lights on and payroll checks clearing. Maybe that is the plan, to the extent MNI’s corporate leadership has one — ignore the debt, keep operations going as long as possible.

Might work. The entire country seems to be going that route, afterall.