John Adams made a terrifying prediction.

[Texas PO]

What I and others here have been saying for years. Our debt, this economy, is unsustainable yet, all you hear is lip service from Washington. Both sides of the isle continue to kick the can down the road and the American people are indifferent. How much long can we go before the train jumps the tracks? Perhaps 20, maybe 30 or 40 years? I am thinking we don't have 20. It's exponentially spiraling out of control.

As the article suggests nobody is big enough to bail us out, even if they were so inclined. In fact, I think there will be more then a few willing to help push us over the cliff. Have a drink, smoke if you got em, dark clouds are on the horizon.

"Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There was never a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."

John Adams, our second president, wrote those words more than two centuries ago, yet they are relevant today. Adams understood that free societies are not destroyed only by foreign enemies. They can also be weakened from within through complacency, indifference and the gradual abandonment of the principles that made them successful.

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/john-adams-made-terrifying-prediction-america-close-proving-him-correct

[Inor]

For the debt problems (and there are many more than just government debt) to be solved or even lessened to a manageable level will require changes that neither side of the political aisle is willing to accept. We rant daily about the progressive looter democrats and how we need to stop welfare and "free giveaways", so I won't bore you with all that again here. But we, on the right side of the political aisle, are almost as bad.

To get the debt down to a manageable level, without raising taxes, we will have to cut the military spending by at least 70%. We will have shut down many, if not most of our foreign bases. (Why are we still in Korea, Germany, Japan, or anywhere else in Asia, Europe, or Africa?) Yes, domestic social programs are a complete waste of money and ALL of them need to STOP NOW! But the military/industrial complex needs a MASSIVE haircut as well. The same is true of programs like NASA, DARPA and all of the other so-called "science" programs. Social Security and Medicare need to stop NOW, not a slow wind-down but a complete stop today. Yes, it sucks that we all paid into Social Security our entire lives with the government promise of some kind of benefit at retirement, but ask any Injun about government promises and what they are worth... Tough nuts to us.

And even if we do somehow manage to get government debt to something close to manageable, the other side of the equation is household debt. Mortgage debt, car loans, student loans and credit card debt are all at level never seen before. Those HAVE to come down, but they never will. People are simply too addicted to their comfortable lives.

Lastly, we all complain about the amount of Treasury debt owned by foreign countries (China, Japan, U.K., etc.), but the vast majority of Treasury debt is owned by domestic retirement plans and insurance companies. Those will also take a considerable flogging. So even those of us that did live below our means and play within the rules will get punished. Yep, it sucks big-time, but at this point, I see no other option.

[Texas PO]

For the debt problems (and there are many more than just government debt) to be solved or even lessened to a manageable level will require changes that neither side of the political aisle is willing to accept. We rant daily about the progressive looter democrats and how we need to stop welfare and "free giveaways", so I won't bore you with all that again here. But we, on the right side of the political aisle, are almost as bad.

To get the debt down to a manageable level, without raising taxes, we will have to cut the military spending by at least 70%. We will have shut down many, if not most of our foreign bases. (Why are we still in Korea, Germany, Japan, or anywhere else in Asia, Europe, or Africa?) Yes, domestic social programs are a complete waste of money and ALL of them need to STOP NOW! But the military/industrial complex needs a MASSIVE haircut as well. The same is true of programs like NASA, DARPA and all of the other so-called "science" programs. Social Security and Medicare need to stop NOW, not a slow wind-down but a complete stop today. Yes, it sucks that we all paid into Social Security our entire lives with the government promise of some kind of benefit at retirement, but ask any Injun about government promises and what they are worth... Tough nuts to us.

And even if we do somehow manage to get government debt to something close to manageable, the other side of the equation is household debt. Mortgage debt, car loans, student loans and credit card debt are all at level never seen before. Those HAVE to come down, but they never will. People are simply too addicted to their comfortable lives.

Lastly, we all complain about the amount of Treasury debt owned by foreign countries (China, Japan, U.K., etc.), but the vast majority of Treasury debt is owned by domestic retirement plans and insurance companies. Those will also take a considerable flogging. So even those of us that did live below our means and play within the rules will get punished. Yep, it sucks big-time, but at this point, I see no other option.

Agreed, there is plenty of blame to go around and nobody is willing to give up their piece of the pie-including the private sector and John Q. public. Both parties are to blame and neither party is willing to spend the political capital necessary to change it. Shutting down Social Security, Medicare, and slicing and dicing the military alone would be political suicide. The Governments fallback will be the same as it always has been, more taxes. They will, of course, continue to spend like a drunken sailor on Saturday night leave.

At the end of the day I think in order for any change to happen it will all have to come crashing down. We may take half the civilized world with us but I don't see any other way. It will be ugly and unpredictable, we may not like how it comes out in the end. Will I be alive to see it? Quite possibly. But your kids probably will, and your grandkids definitely will.

[T-Man 1066]

The national debt has not been paid down since 1957.

https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/historical-debt-outstanding/historical-debt-outstanding

Probably for the last 25+ years I realized there was never going to be another attempt to get us out of debt, but wow, I would have never guessed that we would be where we are today.

https://www.usdebtclock.org/

In 2005, the debt was 54% of our GDP. In 2025 the debt was 132% of our GDP. The numbers are completely mind numbing, and further proof that every f'n politician needs a trip down the old woodchipper!!!

We all know there is NO WAY out of this, and it IS crashing as we speak. The only unknown is what it will look like when we come out the other side.

[Texas PO]

The national debt has not been paid down since 1957.

https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/historical-debt-outstanding/historical-debt-outstanding

Probably for the last 25+ years I realized there was never going to be another attempt to get us out of debt, but wow, I would have never guessed that we would be where we are today.

https://www.usdebtclock.org/

In 2005, the debt was 54% of our GDP. In 2025 the debt was 132% of our GDP. The numbers are completely mind numbing, and further proof that every f'n politician needs a trip down the old woodchipper!!!

We all know there is NO WAY out of this, and it IS crashing as we speak. The only unknown is what it will look like when we come out the other side.

I remember the last time the debt was under a trillion in the late 70's or early 80's and they were crying then about it. As I recall Reagan talked about it in his campaign. Everyone was freaking out wondering what would happen when we hit a trillion. Now 40 trillion dollars later..................................

Looking on the bright side we are number one in the debt category with China closing in on us in second place. Go USA! Go USA!

Another fun fact: 77% of Americans are in debt to some degree totaling about 18 trillion dollars. I am willing to bet more then half those people are in way over their heads.

[Dwight]

The one thing the gov't can do . . . and we can do nothing about it at all . . . declare bankruptcy.

They can declare the govt as bankrupt . . . deny all outstanding loan debts . . . including bonds etc . . . and basically just say . . . "We ain't payin'"

Or . . . they could say we now have two debt categories . . . new debt and old debt . . . we are paying 10% of the old debt per year . . . no interest . . . just the principal . . . and we are not taking on any new debt.

Lots of people would lose their shirts . . . but it could be done.

May God bless,
Dwight