Not only are they mere men, but the social forces that were set in motion long ago are accelerating. The debt is a perfect metric for tracking this. The path of least resistance has been to spend more & more & more. Anyone who stood in the way was portrayed as mean spirited and racist, sexist, etc, etc.
Meanwhile, the prosperity that made the social programs possible has long since disappeared. We kept the illusion of prosperity by putting it all on our collective credit card.
The reason why interest rates are soo low now is that they CAN’T be allowed to go higher. The System would immediately collapse due to the explosion in Federal interest payments. In fact, rates will be forced ever lower (to zero) to make keep the higher deficits “affordable”. Its all blatent manipulation. It can go on for a while, but it can’t go on forever.
Yup. Our elected officials are not the problem. WE, the electorate, are the problem. And as you say, anyone that could solve this would not have a chance of getting re-elected.
And I’ve been making the same arguments regarding interest rates. Anyone who thinks rates will go up in any sort of short- or mid-term doesn’t realize it would be the equivalent of putting a gun to the country’s head and pulling the trigger. I make all my “borrowing” decisions based on the firm belief that interest rates will be either stagnant or lower in the foreseeable future. Anyone who says otherwise is sellin’ somethin’.