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I appreciate the response, so don’t take this the wrong way. Is there no scenario that causes the U.S. to be unable to sustain it’s continued deficit spending? I see foreign investment drying up, and there seems to be no down side that you can see at all.

That sounds excessively optimistic to me. We can’t just print money without there being a down side.

Obviously, if the country borrows too much money, then it has to devote a significant portion of their “take” annually from tax payers to not finance govt, but to pay its debt. Sound like a relative you know? Personal finance and govt finance are similar that way.

But, what if you had a debt, it appeared large, but over the years you got one big pay raise after the next. Heck, even if your debt grew, if you’re income is growing even faster, your debt to income ratio is actually getting better, not worse. This was what Reagan beleived, that we would grow our way out of the national debt. And to a degree it worked, unfortunately as the coffers grew, so did the spending. Much liek the rich dudes wife deciding the next car is going to be more expensive, the mink a bit furrier, and the wine a bit more exclusive...

The US govt, and the Amercian financial machine are smarter than they appear. Also, they’d tell you all this, but maybe they’d rather keep it to themselves, so they don’t tip their hand to the rest of the world.

A dramatically weaker currecny, a great benefit is our national debt has now shrunk by about 30%... Now, we just need a govt that quits spending more, every time it takes in more.

Also, if you think the US is bad, then you should see other nations. We are the most solvent nation on earth really, and if anyone is living in a house of cards, look first at China, Japan, and most of W Europe.

Is there no scenario that causes the U.S. to be unable to sustain it’s continued deficit spending?

There is very little deficit spending. First, disregard government debt to itself, i.e. the SS and other bogus trust funds. The outstanding federal debt is $5.2 trillion. The FY2007 deficit was around $160 billion. However, the inflation rate is around 3%. That means the *value* of the outstanding $5 trillion fell by $150 billion. Therefore the national debt in constant dollars and carrying capacity hardly rose at all. (It did rise in real terms in FY2002-6.) And the inflation rate was not caused by the deficit (inflation continued even during the surplus years FY1999-2001 and remained constant through the subsequent large deficits.) but by expansion of the money supply due to Fed Res interest and reserve policies.