Argentina is an economic recidivist, having defaulted on its debt in 1982, 1989, and 2001 -- and it is about to do so yet again even as it still fights jilted creditors over the last reneg. Argentina's borrowing costs now stand near a two-year high; its government notes due 2017, which have fared the worst in a basket of 65 emerging markets clocked by JPMorgan Chase, yield 19.25%. In in this globally promiscuous lending environment, with tiny interest rates seemingly everywhere, Argentina is blackballed from easy access to international debt capital markets. The lender of last resort, of course, is the International Monetary Fund, which would exact the pain of austerity, including popular subsidy pullbacks, to give Buenos Aires the $10 billion-plus credit infusion it would desperately need to function after a default, according to BCP Securities.