The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Ready for the Debt-Crisis Apocalypse?

Posted on | December 3, 2013 | 32 Comments

If you think doomsday preppers are crazy, you’re wrong:

Riots, massive unemployment, hyperinflation, savings accounts wiped out, financial markets in chaos — these are potential scenarios for America’s future, but exactly when and how the nation’s debt crisis will unravel is still a matter of speculation. Most economists doubt that the United States will soon experience the kind of catastrophic meltdown that struck Greece in recent years, but the U.S. national debt is now more than $17 trillion and growing, with no plans to pay it back. The national debt, which was about $11 trillion when President Obama took office, is now larger than America’s annual gross domestic product (GDP), and is expected to increase by about $700 billion in the next year.
Even though budget sequestration has slowed the rate of deficit spending, the federal government continues hemorrhaging red ink, and the national debt will be nearly $20 trillion by the time Obama leaves office in January 2017. America already has the ninth worst debt-to-GDP ratio in the world, and the piling up of unpaid debt cannot continue forever, says Murray Holland.
“The laws of economics are like the laws of physics — they can’t be changed by government action,” says Holland, a Texas business executive who has just published A Nation in the Red: The Government Debt Crisis and What We Can Do About It.
Attempts to defy the laws of economics have only made the nation’s fiscal problems worse, according to Holland. Even with White House forecasts that Murray considers “unrealistic” in their optimism — projecting annual economic growth rates at 5 percent or higher — the annual interest payments on the national debt would reach more than $1 trillion a year by 2022. Interest payments would then be the largest category in the federal budget, and that’s an optimistic scenario, which not only assumes robust economic growth, but also assumes that the government will continue to be able to borrow money at low interest rates. Both of those assumptions are almost certainly wrong, for reasons that Holland explains at length in A Nation in the Red. . . .

Please read the whole thing at The American Spectator.

 

 


Category: Economics

Comments

32 Responses to “Ready for the Debt-Crisis Apocalypse?”

  1. MrEvilMatt
    December 3rd, 2013 @ 9:29 am

    Ready for the Debt-Crisis Apocalypse?: If you think doomsday preppers are crazy, you’re wrong: Riots, massive … http://t.co/bGtTFxFdIm

  2. CHideout
    December 3rd, 2013 @ 9:29 am

    Ready for the Debt-Crisis Apocalypse?: If you think doomsday preppers are crazy, you’re wrong: Riots, massive … http://t.co/BhQ1xsg6Ly

  3. Lockestep1776
    December 3rd, 2013 @ 9:29 am

    Ready for the Debt-Crisis Apocalypse?: If you think doomsday preppers are crazy, you’re wrong: Riots, massive … http://t.co/DaUBQE39Ux

  4. Resista38176897
    December 3rd, 2013 @ 9:29 am

    Ready for the Debt-Crisis Apocalypse?: If you think doomsday preppers are crazy, you’re wrong: Riots, massive … http://t.co/r6JhZbsGne

  5. Citzcom
    December 3rd, 2013 @ 9:29 am

    Ready for the Debt-Crisis Apocalypse?: If you think doomsday preppers are crazy, you’re wrong: Riots, massive … http://t.co/DwMwTorZsP

  6. jwbrown1969
    December 3rd, 2013 @ 9:29 am

    Ready for the Debt-Crisis Apocalypse?: If you think doomsday preppers are crazy, you’re wrong: Riots, massive … http://t.co/u2Q48f7jco

  7. LyleKlich
    December 3rd, 2013 @ 9:35 am

    RT @MrEvilMatt: Ready for the Debt-Crisis Apocalypse?: If you think doomsday preppers are crazy, you’re wrong: Riots, massive … http://t.…

  8. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    December 3rd, 2013 @ 9:38 am

    So maybe hitting the amazon portals is a bad idea this Christmas? Unless of course you are getting prepper supplies.

    You might want to consider a Cabela’s portal too.

  9. K-Bob
    December 3rd, 2013 @ 9:41 am

    I’m BaAAaack!

    What did I miss?

    Wait, tell me that banner at TAS doesn’t mean TAS is “going green.” It’s a holiday thing, right?

    One thing we can do about the debt is use the Article Five second process to amend the Constitution. It’s time. It’s what I’ve been working on for the past few months. You can see what I made at articlefiveprocess.com.

    Also check out the discussions at Scoop’s every Monday. We’ve covered the collapse and impending monetary crisis as reasons why we need this process to work.

  10. Welcome to the People’s Republic of Portland | Batshit Crazy News
    December 3rd, 2013 @ 9:43 am

    […] TOM: Get ready for the debt crisis apocalypse…  Pretty soon we will have kids selling matchsticks in the streets (and that story does not have a happy ending) […]

  11. richard mcenroe
    December 3rd, 2013 @ 9:50 am

    When was the last time most quoted economists were right?

  12. RS
    December 3rd, 2013 @ 9:59 am

    Austerity is coming. It will be difficult. The only question is whether it’s “voluntary,” in the sense that we seize the reins and take the steps necessary to avert a complete meltdown, or whether it’s forced upon us because those inside the Beltway are more concerned about their places at the trough and continue to ignore what is obvious to anyone who’s ever balanced a checkbook at the end of the month.

  13. MattRoss
    December 3rd, 2013 @ 10:53 am

    The scenario is scary. No matter the opinion of if and how, it must be clear that this level of debt is unsustainable.

  14. richard mcenroe
    December 3rd, 2013 @ 11:27 am

    You seriously think McConnell and Reid give a damn about future generations?

  15. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    December 3rd, 2013 @ 11:36 am

    The longest event horizon for either of them is the next election for their respective seats.

  16. Quartermaster
    December 3rd, 2013 @ 11:58 am

    No it’s permanent. They also went to the Disqus comments system. Unfortunately, they don’t have anyone competent like Smitty and Wombat to run it. It’s not quite as bad as NRO, but it ain’t as good as it is here.
    Sorry to hit you with this just as you’re waking up.

  17. RS
    December 3rd, 2013 @ 12:48 pm

    No. My money is on the “involuntary” melt-down.

  18. Quartermaster
    December 3rd, 2013 @ 1:04 pm

    That’s how the smart money is betting. Politicians never cut back on such things unless a gun is to their head, and most of the time not even then.

  19. La Pucelle
    December 3rd, 2013 @ 1:10 pm

    Heck, we already have an small but thriving “barter economy” due to fiat currency becoming more worthless by the day, and I didn’t even need to go to Zero Hedge to figure that out. (I mainly use them to double-check what I’m observing at this point) What used to be restricted to rural and ex-urban locations is now happening in more urban locations now. Fresh vegetables, eggs, and practical labor skills are already surpassing cash value.

  20. rsmccain
    December 3rd, 2013 @ 2:30 pm

    Ready for the Debt-Crisis Apocalypse? http://t.co/0TQFRmE5aG

  21. PubliusNV
    December 3rd, 2013 @ 2:36 pm

    Ready for the Debt-Crisis Apocalypse? http://t.co/8l4YzF1gfk

  22. ElliottBobert
    December 3rd, 2013 @ 2:36 pm

    RT @rsmccain: Ready for the Debt-Crisis Apocalypse? http://t.co/0TQFRmE5aG

  23. rsmccain
    December 3rd, 2013 @ 3:41 pm

    RT @PubliusNV: Ready for the Debt-Crisis Apocalypse? http://t.co/8l4YzF1gfk

  24. jimmiebjr
    December 3rd, 2013 @ 4:15 pm

    RT @rsmccain: Ready for the Debt-Crisis Apocalypse? http://t.co/0TQFRmE5aG

  25. Ready for the Debt-Crisis Apocalypse? | Dead Citizen's Rights Society
    December 3rd, 2013 @ 7:46 pm

    […] Read the rest … […]

  26. Zohydro
    December 3rd, 2013 @ 7:51 pm

    Well…

    At least if we like eating every day and sleeping inside, we can keep eating every day and sleeping ínside, right?

  27. Quartermaster
    December 3rd, 2013 @ 8:04 pm

    Just be sure to say “hello” to the NSA monitors.

  28. rsmccain
    December 3rd, 2013 @ 9:17 pm

    RT @Resista38176897: Ready for the Debt-Crisis Apocalypse?: If you think doomsday preppers are crazy, you’re wrong: Riots, massive … http…

  29. Chris King
    December 3rd, 2013 @ 9:26 pm

    just sell the nation to the fed reserve bank.
    oh, that’s what’s happening in QE3…..
    those “asset” swaps are for very REAL mortgages now… not just tbonds for tbills….
    happening right under our noses.

  30. mooseandskwerl
    December 4th, 2013 @ 8:44 am

    RT @Resista38176897: Ready for the Debt-Crisis Apocalypse?: If you think doomsday preppers are crazy, you’re wrong: Riots, massive … http…

  31. K-Bob
    December 4th, 2013 @ 10:46 am

    It’s like an ice-water alarm clock.

  32. Obama Donkey Kong? | Regular Right Guy
    December 4th, 2013 @ 4:16 pm

    […] Ready for the Debt-Crisis Apocalypse? […]