If the World is Going to End, Should we pay the Mortgage?

By now you've heard about the recent fish kills in the Chesapeake Bay, birds dying in Arkansas and Kentucky, and crab corpses washing up on beaches in England. These random events are fanning the flames of religious fanatics who think the 'Big Guy' (and I don't mean Clarence Clemons) is on the way very soon (and it's not even 2012.) Of course, if the world will end soon the obvious thought for consumers is this: why keep paying the mortgage? The courts are so backed up with the regular flow of foreclosures, if even more folks stop paying, it will take five years for servicers to catch up and by then the earth will be smoldering ash anyway. But on a more serious note, consider this:  the U.S. could hit the legal limit on its ability to borrow as soon as March 31 and faces serious consequences unless Congress acts by then to raise it. So says Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. If there is a debt ceiling crisis, rates could sky rocket, but who will be at fault: the new Tea Party class or the Democrats? Or both?