Dealing with debt default

In India, we have seen how major defaulters have decamped to safe havens with covert but full political support

Why have debt defaults of gigantic proportions become commonplace everywhere? How is it that globally, the debtors get away with defaults so easily?
 
A little history is instructive here. Until just three decades ago, the domestic defaulter was allowed to go bankrupt and all his possessions were sold off. If necessary, he or she went to jail.
 
International debt default punishment was similar. The defaulting country was crucified, along with its people. In the case of Latin America in the early 1980s and East Asia in the late 1900s, practically entire continents were impaled.
 
Then two horrible