Mehhh, this whole premise is odd. US will have a sovereign debt crisis? When? Why? How can you predict the future so easily? And utilizing what data sets? Please don't just point to charts and big numbers with exasperation...
I mean, if you're looking for the hottest new debate look at the level of debate over Chinese debt. At a local level Chinese debt looks like a disaster. The statisticians and government agencies in the country may be hiding real raw figures of debt out of fear or something, who knows. Here's what we do know: loans to businesses mature on an annual basis. For a couple years now these businesses have been taking out new loans as old loans mature to pay for the existing loan...and to attempt to pay less per month towards the original principal. Recently, the spreads on this debt have been spiking, 200bps or so. Then when you look at debt accumulated by local municipalities you see the same damn thing...and with the Chinese imposing stricter controls to try to get this shit under wraps growth starts to decelerate. So what's the local guy to do when shit hits the fan and he can't fund his scheme anymore? Well...he gets approval from the ruling Chinese leadership to issue bonds. This was just made legal. Problem? Well, who wants to buy bonds low when they doubt the solvency of the issuer? So that's going up as well...
So, it's getting more expensive to acquire credit in China. And you had those record FDI outflows not too long ago...
Look, the US isn't in that bad of a position. Our banks are in a much better position than they were (Even though it's still not enough). I know we like to lament the decline of our country, of our civilization but we've gotta get out of this retarded inward looking criticism and seek ways to correct our own problems by looking abroad and outside. I'm really f**k tired of everybody telling me what's wrong with this country, even very smart people on this forum, when none of us do anything to change it. What's that? We can?! HOW?
"Electing the right politician that's aligned with my political beliefs." Bull. You can't rely on the vote anymore. Suffrage supporters didn't just "vote." They had no vote. Slavery wasn't ended by "voting." It took a damn war. Hiding behind the vote is easy. It's just something we can use to say "we tried" now. The problem, as it looks to me anyways, is not that we don't have enough voter participation. It's that the people that can change things, that can create cogent and effective movements, don't act anymore. It's only the die hards. The blow hards. The idiots appealing to singular issues not necessarily relevant to contemporary concerns at a politically feasible level (in aggregate on a national stage).
And let's be honest, who really led past movements to change the status quo? Upper middle class people. People increasingly more concerned with wealth accumulation than concerns affiliated with lower classes.
So every time I read something that proclaims to know that we're doomed, I roll my eyes. If it's that bad, why are we talking about it through a computer screen/monitor? Why aren't we doing something about it?
It's why I don't post as much anymore. I simply fail to see the point, we're all in a huge circle jerk here.