It is crunch time!

The time for some hard decisions in the financial life of our nation has arrived.
We will choose between bankruptcy at worst, or second tier international status at
best. Ireland faces a similar problem but the scale of the two nations makes the problem in Ireland more manageable and within the capacity of the European Union.
For a graphic illustration of what ails us, examine some paper money
in your wallet. It is
named "Federal Reserve Note" and carries the assurance that it is Legal Tender for
all debts, private and public. It does not say it can be redeemed for gold, silver, wheat, corn, petroleum or anything else than another Federal Reserve Note. What stands behind its value is the full faith and confidence that it will be accepted
in exchange for goods or services provided by someone else.
If our budget is in increasing deficit our credit becomes questionable, countries and people who invest in our debt paper become unwilling to do so unless we pay
exorbitant interest rates, which exacerbates the deficits. At some point they will
refuse to buy our paper, or worse ask us to redeem it. We would have to give them
the hard assets which underlie our power and standard of living, thus becoming a colony of our creditors. Would that be better than taking the difficult measures to
keep us free, powerful and with our high quality of life--a significant player on the world stage? Ask our children!!