Now We Can Stop Paying Attention

http://dollarcollapse.com/the-economy/now-we-can-stop-paying-attention/

Someday the markets will put a stop to the borrowing, but until then it really doesn’t matter who we elect or what they promise. Debt, after it reaches a certain level, is all that matters – not immigration policy or health care or marginal tax rates or short term interest rates or gay marriage. All are irrelevant compared to the institutional momentum of increasing leverage.

Total debt is now about $175,000 per citizen, or $700,000 per family of four. The average family’s income is something like $50,000, so it’s clear that we’ve long since passed the point where a return to a 1980s version of placid normality is a viable possibility for the country, any more than it would be for a typical family that woke up to find itself $700,000 in debt. Going forward the choice is to inflate or die.

This story is at least a decade old, and it’s getting tiresome for all involved. For the majority who expect positive change from each election the disappointment must be exhausting, as each inevitable compromise moves their latest hero one step closer to impotence. For the small number of people who see the underlying truth, this show is even harder to watch because the obvious, inevitable ending just won’t come. The zombie that should have died for good after the 2000 tech stock crash keeps shambling along, wreaking havoc or boredom, depending on whether you’re in its path or watching from a safe distance.