To be fair, it takes more than blaming Clinton. Bush was (still is) President and if this was a problem (federal economic intervention which was contrary to sound economic policy) it was HIS job to say something about it. He didn’t. Yeah he had plenty of other stuff to do. Still, we haven’t dealt with SS either have we? Tried and failed. Part of the answer is that Americans need to get economic education and take this stuff seriously. And TANSTAAFL! They also need to learn the phrase “moral hazard.” It’s one of the consequences of government action in markets where the gov has NO business getting involved. When you privatize the gains of capitalism (ask Jamie Gorelick about how much fun that is) and dump the risks on the public, some people need to go to jail for fraud.
Yes, but peel back one more layer on the onion. The voting public insists that it can vote itself money from the treasury. Short term (6-8 months) we can work through this mess. Longer term we will have to have a commitment from the average voter to allow elected leaders to stand on the brakes in the spending department. Funding Medicare, SS, wars, social spending with massive bond selling will have to stop.
The chances of that? I try not to think too much about it.