Ignorance Is Bliss

I want to ignore the national debt just like everyone else. Including you. I really think it doesn't mean much, which is why ignoring it is acceptable. The national debt (at fourteen point two trillion, $14,200,000,000,000) and/or the annual deficits (at one point four trillion, $1,400,000,000) mean nothing to the average American "consumer." Recall my argument that we are no longer American citizens -- we are simply consumers. "Consume you fuck...that's all you are good for."

Today our "economy" is wholly dependent on the borrowing of 11% of GDP and the monetization of two-thirds of all new federal debt via continous Federal Reserve purchases of debt. In my little opinion, and it is indeed little, we are simply carrying forward the same elements (excessive consumer borrowing, money for nothing, chicks for free) that caused our current condition. I suspect that our current governmental actions will cause another future "calamity" sometime during the next few years.

This is nothing more than a speculative guess from a single, meager constituent. Yet I look around me and I see the complete evisceration of manufacturing jobs where I live. There isn't one within a fifteen mile radius of where I live. I am one of those miscreants who believe that the "service" industry has to have an underlying real productive base in which to service, and as this continues to devolve, so does our economy.

I blog about this as if I care. In the end I really don't. I work in a recession/depression proof industry. I carry exceedingly low levels of personal debt. I maintain skills that would likely be sought after under every imaginable economic calamity. I could watch our economy implode and I think that I'd fare better than most, as I've somewhat better prepared for it (in my humble opinion).

Implosion is not likely. No. However, the slow demise of our "exceptionalism" is most certainly a possibility, as we 1) cannot produce our own domestic energy needs , 2) cannot manufacture anything anymore, 3) export gaming, social networking, cellularized telephone software and other trivial services that are the core of our "new" economy, and 4) fail to educate our kids relative to other nations...there are a dozen other items that I could continue with...

Our debt is conveniently and systematically being ignored by everyone. In the end it may not matter. I look around at all my "neighbors" who have magically found ways to ignore their debts through short sales, loan modifications, defaults, foreclosures, debt restructuring, settlements, or bankruptcy, and I see my city of Elk Grove that has magically found ways to ignore its debts through short sales, loan modifications, defaults, foreclosures, debt restructuring, settlements, or bankruptcy, and I see my state of California that has magically found ways to ignore its debts through short sales, loan modifications, defaults, sales of state buildings, debt restructuring, settlements, or bankruptcy,and I see my federal government that has magically found ways to ignore its debts through short sales, zero interest loans to big banks, devaluation of currency, debt restructuring, settlements, and potentially, bankruptcy.

Ignorance of our debts is certainly bliss.