New light houses of freedom will rise stronger than ever!

I don't know that the country as a whole has much hope, but there's an enormous resurgence of state's rights in America.

On a long enough time frame, our internal migration and policy trends will lead to the more sane states ascending in national importance.

Undisciplined

And I really hope that the Euro (that's my base case) goes to hell first and the US again has the lead to a system of free markets. We Europeans have been poisened by a totally corrupt system of ''harmonization and centralization'' that kills private initiative. 

TomK

econ

The Public Debt Spiral Puts Us Under Pressure

"Under current policies" is the key there. Current policies are reaching a breaking point.

I've been saying for a while that we might see strategic defaults as part of a short term approach to managing the debt. With rapidly escalating global tensions, I could see the US defaulting on debts held by "the other side".

I think we'll see a few more chapters in this story, but as you said we know it ends in currency collapse.