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NathanBedford - normally I am content to just read your comments and nod sagely but this time I have to respond.

Is the main issue having a .."real effect on our ability to get our fiscal house in order."? When the main point of this discussion and whether we risk thousands, maybe millions of lives to deal with a nuclear North Korea and Iran, I hardly think the financial aspects are particularly relevant.

The real issue is whether we have or can quickly develop means to deal with North Korea and Iran's nuclear capabilities and ballistic delivery systems as well as develop alliances to provide more mass than just ourselves alone to secure the flanks to prevent a widening war.

The Bushs and Hussein handed us this intensely dangerous mess where complete nothingburger countries are now in the position of directly attacking the continental US. We can't stand by and hope for the better.

Worrying about our credit card balances should be much further back in the list of our immediate priorities, right?

If we wake up tomorrow morning and have to decide between nuclear annihilation and bankruptcy, of course the choice is obvious.

But there is no more immediacy in the Korea or Iran threats today than there has been for years and it is quite conceivable that the situation will continue as is for years to come. Meanwhile, the fiscal situation creeps ever closer to becoming irredeemable.

I believe that Trump is doing the right thing in trading off trade advantages for cooperation but I also think it is quite right to point out that China has played this game successfully against us several times before with the connivance of North Korea and there is reason to believe that they are doing it again. Trump probably has no choice but to play the game one more time but try to change the rules to get a different result this time and we for our part have no choice but to hope and believe that he knows what he is doing and will succeed.

I think it is quite legitimate to point out that in dealing with Korea through China we are perhaps working against ourselves concerning another vital interest. I think is also quite right to point out that if the situation in Korea is immediate, security must trump (pun shamelessly intended) the balance sheet.