RE:America Fake Again and sheep at the cliffMost people have no clue the danger of the US nat'l debt, and the Americans aren't alone.
Consider if rates increase so that the gov't must pay 5% on its debt and a $20 trillion debt. Simply financing the debt for one year then costs $1 trillion.
How much is that? We spend around $700 billion per year each on nat'l defense, medicare, and soc. security. Thus simply servicing the debt, not paying down a nickel of it, would become far and away our largest spending item. Failure to meet that interest payment, of course, is a default, and the US debt as a percent of our economic output is far less than that of many other industrialized countries.
Unbelievably selfish today, especially for those who want ever higher spending on "compassionate social programs," for what they're going to do to their children and grandchildren.
I guess we never know when that kind of debt reaches a true tipping point, but gold would be a great place to be.