[DoughtyOne]

Can you imagine what respect we would get at any international gathering? We would be completely ignored.

Just how much clout do you think we will have after our currency collapses? For that matter, given where Europe is headed, it doesn't look like there is going to be much of a "world stage" left in a few years.

I watched a report the other day that compared our level of debt today to the GNP, with another period when the debt was compared to the GNP.

I find the current debt to be very alarming.  The report revealed that it may not be quite as bad as we think.  Considering where it's headed in short order, I'm not so sure.  I tend to lean your direction on this, but I am willing to listen to presentations that are rational and disagree with my view of it.

I do think we need to address it in short order.  I believe we sill see a person elected in the next four to eight years who will gain a consensus and get the job done.

Buck up folks. Obama is self-destructing before our very eyes.

You're delusional. Benghazi has its fall guy. By this time next month Petraeus will be blamed for dandruff and bad breath too.

Time will tell.  This time yesterday I might have agreed with you.  I think this whole thing is even bigger than what we think it is.

At this point, we'll have to wait and see.  You may be right.  We'll see.

[hopespringseternal]

I watched a report the other day that compared our level of debt today to the GNP, with another period when the debt was compared to the GNP.

The debt we have today is very dangerous all by itself. What would happen if we faced a real crisis that required yet another massive increase in debt?

But even barring that, even if Romney had won and had a republican majority, the growth of the debt would take several years to get under control and it would require at least one generation to grow the economy to catch up with it. There is pretty much zero chance of us maintaining a responsible government for that long. It simply is no longer in our national character.

Now we have at least two more years before there is much of a chance of even starting the process. The staggering fact is that the debt will probably increase by 15 to 20% in that time alone and there is no guarantee republicans will win big enough to effect any kind of meaningful change either or would even if they can. And in all likelihood the economy will be stagnant or even shrink on top of all that.

The world has pretty much already written off the dollar as a stable currency already, and that is all that has let us get away with we are doing this long.

Wishful thinking has always been a bad response to reality. We are at the point where a lot of things have to break exactly the right way and the first of those has to be the very return to sanity that just keeps getting kicked down the road.