>>>Don't worry, we are not going to default on our debts. As I said, this is an annual pageant. Every year it comes up and every year the ceiling is raised, no matter which party is in charge. It will be raised again this year. It's a perfect opportunity for politicians to puff out their chests and posture, knowing it's just empty words.
>>
>>not in the next 6 years, in that time span some european countries will probably try to default partially.
>>But when the $ is less important than the yuan/renmimbi, something like that becomes more probable.
>>
>>But honestly: öetting politicians run up deficits to ever greater parts of the GNP is mathemetically certain to cause a meltdown.
>>So how to keep them from spending non-existant money ?
>
>The U.S. has run a deficit virtually every year for decades.

True.

>It only became a major issue when the economy went into the toilet four years ago.

False. It has been a major political issue since the American Revolution.

>And once the Great Recession, or whatever you choose to call it, is over the deficit will recede as a political issue.

You presume the two are mutually exclusive. I submit that they are symbiotic and that both are symptoms of an oncoming systemic structural failure.