How long do people (Americans?) really think $1 trillion US dollar annual deficits can go on?

Well...I already have an answer to this...most people don't think about things like this - they just carry on with their everyday lives until something profound forces them to re-evaluate their existence and the larger system their existence and future existence (401k, IRA, social security, democracy itself, etc...) is connected to / based on.

Some may be forced to re-evaluate their circumstances "locally or temporarily" but don't question the larger system other than per se "Blame it on the bankers" or some other relatively "simple analysis" fed to them by mass media impressions. Or the flip side -- Obama/Romney, etc... will fix it. Only until faced with a more serious threat to their existence (Say in - some - European countries) does physical protesting take place on a wider scale or perhaps do more people question things that were never questioned before.

But asking anyway....just to see what other ATS folk think or what people you know think (Who don't read ATS).

Putting aside 2012 end scenarios, etc...

Many are aware of the 2008 near collapse (Whatever that means on an individual level), although they may not think about it much because (At least in the USA) "everything is relatively fine / peaceful except for the brief blip of Occupy protesters" (My impression anyway) for many thanks to 4 years of $1 trillion+ deficits every year - which does trickle down.....whether from food stamp/card handouts to corporate welfare, to government contracts to a stock market that is still near its all time high - which buoys 401k accounts, which gives the feeling that all is ok.

Maybe it is just a matter of people not thinking much about things which one feels powerless to influence. "Just take it on the chin/crotch and keep going." Better to immerse one self in their smartphone, video game, Facebook, movie fantasies, or other gadget.

---

The drug of perceived prosperity / minimal suffering by "stealing from the future" via piling on A LOT more debt to "restart the economy." is continuing...what say you?

-- To me the current economic/democratic model is like a "drug user" who takes some form of drug to "feel good" but then the body adapts and needs more, so then they seek out more marijuana,coc aine, oxy, heroin, etc..knowing the feel good return is declining, but keep on doing it....until their body / existence becomes so unbearable that they can take no more...and die or go to rehab, or face the music deep inside... --

What would the USA/world look like if the economy really did collapse? If we didn't rely on endless debt / fiat currency? What if the stock market went below its low of 6626 to say 4000 or even lower and just stayed there more/less for many many years? What would things look like if government contracts were canceled left & right and deficits were returned to a more manageable say $300 billion / year (Still a ridiculous sum....slow death vs faster death now)

This affects more than Americans, because the USA economy is so integral to many other countries to the entire world. But since the primary money printer is in the USA....(Also via stealth loans to help Europe - who have been printing happily themselves) What about Japan? - they seem to be chugging along - with loads of debt, though maybe most of that is domestic vs US foreign debt - despite a cratered stock/real estate market (Relatively speaking to their bubble highs of the past).

reply to post by dontneedaname


it cant.

it wont.

seems to me the dollar is being crashed



to bring in the Amero..



after all..

the Federal Reserve charter expires in 2013..

you hear NO talk of that discussion in the news..

and obviously everything possible has been done

to discredit Ron Paul..



the ONLY candidate standing up to the Federal Reserve..

your wrong on one point the feds charter was changed to perpetual in 1927

So the charter is perpetual,

Only an act of Congress can end the FED.

The deficit must continue or these shipping containers will stop coming in full and leaving empty.

"45% of containers exported from port operator APM Terminals' Port Elizabeth facility (part of the Port of New York and New Jersey) are empty, a reflection of the trade imbalance."
features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com...

Meltdown Live
Gross Debt to GDP 104 percent. (your !@#$ed)
23 million actually Unemployed. (so sad)
46 million On Food stamps Double the Unemployed (Incredibly Sad)
All on the Backs Of 113 million tax payers! (YAH THINK, not a chance)
Debt per tax payer 139 Grand (Not a prayer)
Debt per Citizen 50 grand (Its Over)
US national DEBT 16 trillion in a few days. (LMAO)
Currency and Credit Derivatives 733 TRILLION (lmao lol lamao lol)
Money Creation out of thin air. WHO IS PAYING? WHO COULD PAY?
World MeltDown Live
Its Over!
Canada The second largest country in the world geographically,a pebble in a lake for world population
and we are !@#$%in near broke. I didn't pick Canada specifically because I'm Canadian, Rather because of natural resources to population ratio. IF a Government can squander and rape their own people,and sell off all that we are or could have been, what right do they have to govern at all? What hope does any Country have?! They are pissing it all away. And we sit and help them do it, by Consent!
Australia,England,France ,Germany, Greece,Ireland(OMFG)Italy,Japan,Portugal,Spain And of course THE USA.
Worlds Reserve Currency! Funny money! People Are Dieing for Monopoly Money. But it will be alright!
HA HA HA I think not. Its getting to Crunch time. Its getting to Death time.Death for worthless paper.
1.43(91) a litre for gas In Ontario for me this morning, 1.28(91) last week. I think regular was 116.9. But I can't put that SH!t in my car. Someone wagged his tail in the Strait of Hormuz and my gas goes up! The math doesn't lie. Its over.