As will I.

Circumstances are far different than what they were before Obama took office. The size of the debt, the state of the economy, the lawlessness in the Administration - none of these are something we have ever seen before.

If I were a gambler I would you write you some puts: http://www.cboe.com/DelayedQuote/SimpleQ...
:)

yes...muddling through...shut up and put your nose down...

I'll take the other side of that bet.

"so I target the top 1% and show them an article (wsj or biz week) and the best figure I can come up with is the top 16,000 families have a total wealth of 6 trillion. "
This is a great lesson. Even if you target the top 10% and want them to pay for most of the military, everyone's healthcare, everyone's education, service the debt, it just doesn't work out. And you run into the issue that people at the bottom of the top decile aren't _that_ rich, so it seems harsh that they should be paying for the decile below them. Okay, so may be 2nd and 3rd deciles should pay their own way an the top decile should pay for the bottom six. The more you dig into it, the clearer it becomes that it doesn't work. It's not about politics; the numbers don't work.

"The only things remaining are major catastrophes."
People have been saying this all my life. I first heard about it in '87 with the stock market crash and rising debt. Since this all kinds of amazing positive developments have happened. The debt is worse now, but people will muddle through, rising to the occasion when it becomes and immediate problem.

@servant Yes! Many people (not people on this site) borrow for consumption rather than investment and/or borrow too much. Maybe we shouldn't be surprised that our elected representative do the same thing.

Hear hear

I have read parts of it. You might want to check out America's Great Depression, by Murray Rothbard.

I suggest you read "FDR's Folly" by Jim Powell

The key is what is money and what is debt. Currency is money, electronic notations the Fed gives member banks for their bonds (called monetizing the debt, but that's actually a misnomer) is an exchange of Fed debt for Treasury debt. That debt can and does behave like money when the banking system, corporations, and individuals are not overly indebted, expanding via the well known multiplier effect as banks loan out excess reserves. However, when an economy reaches debt saturation, the process goes into reverse as debt contraction, the opposite of debt inflation. Fed created reserves, so-called money, lies inert. Debt contraction of course puts downward pressure on prices. This is what happened during the Great Depression.

Thank You!!! -- j

Sarbanes-Oxley

low interest rates being forced by
the Fed, of course, per Dem policy! -- j

could you please define "SOX" in this context, Dale? -- j

That is true. I should have been more specific because I was thinking more in terms of credit card debt and such. In any case, with our country owing dollar amounts so astronomical that they can't even be imagined, all past principles of economics fall by the wayside and we are in Wonderland but one not as logical as Alice's.

Yes, Herb. I am trying to work my way around to having a reasonable setup for that plausible future. I second your advice: the things to buy are things that will increase the chance of survival if money is worthless.

I am not so certain that it is necessary to be debt free, however: I recall my mother saying that during the Great Depression, anyone who made ANY payment on their mortgage (even a dollar a month) was left alone by the mortgage company...because there were so many people who could not pay anything. So I think my version of 'be debt free' is to 'invest in yourself' and try to be able to pay something on your debts during crisis, so that you are not in the target zone.

Jan

Each political election resulting in anything other than a massive wakeup call on fiscal responsibility will bring falling down to a new normal. It will be like slow motion Jenga.

Sorry, it is hard for me to understand how printing money would cause deflation. It sounds a little Keynesian to me. The policy of printing money to stimulate the economy has never produced anything but inflation. The inflation simply helps the government get out of debt. Why not join the bandwagon?

If BIG changed dont happen in Nov and again in 2016; then there will be hell to pay as the welfare is reduced due to lack of funds and new payments to illegals. The welfare bums all 47% of them will riot and burn as in Missouri and CA a few years back.

Japan has been printing money for over 20 years, and battling deflation, not inflation. It is hard for those of us who grew up in the inflationary 1970s to wrap our minds around, but what we have now is credit inflation, and when it reverses, my hypothesis is that we'll be looking at full on, Great Depression style deflation. Central banks will be powerless to stop it, just as they could not stop deflation in the 1930s.

Which is why I advise anyone who plans to make a major purchase, a car, a house, renovations, etc. Do It Now! When the tower crumbles and money is worthless, at least you'll have the stuff. And you certainly won't be able to afford luxuries. It doesn't matter if the bubble pops next week or next year or next decade. Nothing will be as cheap as it is right now. But (and it's a big but) that only works if you're fairly debt free. If you aren't get there as fast as you can. If you are, be sure to reserve some cash or cash substitute. Also, if the bubble bursts so completely that nothing's left, stuff may become more valuable than money.

I think that the central banks will continue printing money forever. Japan has been doing it for over 20 years. Even a small rate of inflation accumulates like continuous compound interest.

Debt collapses are inherently deflationary, which will make the debt burden that much heavier.

The low interest rates are a great incentive to accumulate debt in another way. The coming currency inflation will for all practical purposes, wipe out the debt.