Tempting the tipping point

[thundley4]

Can the U.S. escape a fiscal death spiral?

If governments continue to pile on more and more debt, when will they reach the tipping point? The Greeks appear to be close to the tipping point, and it is only a matter of time before other European countries, and eventually even the United States, begin their fiscal death spiral.

*snip*

The Obama administration and the Congress are in a headlong rush to push the country over the fiscal tipping point. The fiscal tipping point is the point where the interest that premium bond buyers are demanding to compensate them for the risk of default and/or accelerating inflation causes the total interest cost to be so high that the government is borrowing just to pay the interest. This is equivalent to a family being so far in debt that it is borrowing just to pay the interest on its mortgage, credit cards, etc.

The proposed health care plan and the environmental cap-and-trade scheme will add trillions of dollars to the U.S. debt over the next few years and, in all likelihood, soon will drive the total debt burden to well over 100 percent of GDP. Even if the administration were to tax the "rich" at 100 percent of their incomes, there would still not be enough money to pay for all of these spending schemes.
*snip*

Humans are quite good at adapting to climate change. Our species has already lived through hundreds of climate cycles. What they are not good at is adapting to the fiscal and monetary falsehoods of politicians. Yet, the politicians would prefer to fly around the world talking about climate change rather than putting their fiscal house in order.
Once the tipping point is reached, government will shrink one way or another, because there will be no way to fund the previous bloated state. Who will be most hurt? Those most dependent on government.

Washington Times

Not a very rosy picture.

[Oceander]

Not a rosy picture, indeed.  Moodys' has already come out and stated publicly (at the time that they downgraded Greece's sovereign debt) that the triple-A ratings of the sovereign debt of countries like the UK and the US would be in jeopardy if those countries didn't demonstrate a real commitment to cutting their deficits.  That's pretty scary, because it's a little bit like when ex-Fed. Chair Greenspan came out and said that the markets were exhibiting "irrational exuberance."  In other words, we are a hell of a lot closer to the tipping point than that article implies.

[NHSparky]

Time to blow the bridge and go Galt.

[DefiantSix]

Time to blow the bridge and go Galt.

Galt's Gulch awaits those who are ready for her.