[Alberta's Child]

The difference is that the Federal government prints money and has full control over its own liabilities. New York State and New York City do not.

This is nuts, and we had better start getting serious about it.

I've been hearing that for decades ... for so long, in fact, that I stopped listening.

[The Pack Knight]

The difference is that NY State and NYC have a federal government to bail them out. The federal governenment does not.

Yes, we have a powerful economy and attractive bonds that give us a great capacity to kick the debt can down the road. But the problem will come to a head eventually. At one point world investors will lose confidence in our bonds, then we will be looking at hyperinflation or austerity, and possibly a global depression. The longer we wait to fix it, the more painful the fix. When it happens, it will probably happen pretty fast.