Like any relationship gone bad, the USA and its most ardent supporters - conservatives - are now caught in a terrible cycle. One ratchets up control, while the other retreats, vowing to withhold its favors.
It doesn't require something as dramatic as tax evasion. Oh, the increased taxes will be paid, but something has been extinguished, and that something is spirit. Gone is the spirit of 'getting ahead'; it has been replaced with the cold reality that hard-working folks have been played as the dupes & patsies that they are.
Once the dupes & patsies realize they ARE dupes & patsies, the relationship begins its terminal decline. That's why the most effective forces against federal tyranny are NOT the various Tea Party rallies and other political efforts.
No, the most potent forces are the 10s (100s) of millions of Americans all quietly seething, vowing to no longer actively support the machine past bare minimum requirements.
That's why bean-counters such as myself watch the numbers. We've gone way past any sort of sustainable support from the tax base. As the Laffer curve predicted, every add'l tax increase just accelerates the decline in overall tax receipts.
So the USA borrows & prints. But it's already at the terminal stage of this strategy. The entire premise of the last 12-18 mos has been to create an illusion to lure the dupes & patsies back into the game. But they've retreated to quietly sulk.
And therein lies the truth of the tale: the USA is going to default. It doesn't matter if it is the biggest employer and has the most guns. It doesn't have what is most required, and that is wealth.
Bump
I agree the fedgov is doomed because the default is looming. I hope it ends with a whimper and not a CW.