Read your US history.
It was recorded that, for the Alaska purchase, 300% of the US congress had been bribed to vote one way or another. That is, it averaged out to each congressmen getting three different bribes.
Ol’ Frank Roosevelt expanded the commerce clause in the US constitution so much that it covered virtually every aspect of American life. Even elevator operators were covered, because they might transport someone who had crossed State lines doing business. Farmers could no longer grow what they wanted, when they wanted, and the WPA channeled huge amounts of money to local Democrats who would only hire other Democrats.
George Washington was the first president to blatantly violate the US constitution, sending federal troops against US citizens in the Whiskey Rebellion.
Even though they weren’t fully US citizens, Andrew Jackson ethnically cleansed most of the Indians from East of the Mississippi and sent them to desolate lands out West.
Woodrow Wilson nationalized the railroads for World War I, and every bureaucrat in Washington then ordered their own rail car to pick them up, to show how important they were. It created a rail jam that lasted for almost four years. After he was left comatose by a stroke, Mrs. Wilson ran the country for about six months.
While in office Lyndon Johnson’s shipping company monopolized almost all US military cargo transported to and from Vietnam, turning himself into a billionaire.
When Grover Cleveland was in his second term, in 1895, a two year long economic crisis nearly bankrupted the US government. Were it not for the intervention of J.P. Morgan, the man, the government would have found itself in the same situation we find ourselves today.
But does it mean the US is “over”? Heck no.
It does mean, however, that the US can no longer have a budget deficit for *any* reason, including Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid, or even Defense. And in fact, will have to have a substantial surplus if our economy is to recover. And it is not their choice. They could have chosen to watch their spending, but time and time again, they refused.
So it is no longer their choice. They can whine all they want, but they can’t spend a penny more than the tax revenue brings in. And to make matters worse, for the next two years, tax revenues might be down by double digits.
Thank you. America had problems before and will get through this.
And if anyone else from this thread, armed and ready, thinks that you will get enough people away from “American Idol” and “Dancing with the Stars” to fight with you, you will be sorely disappointed.
Nice thought and I’ll get my dad’s little 22 out of the closet to help, but there are a lot of Americans who are comfortable with the situation right now.
The tv, lottery tickets and football games are much more important to them.