Nicely Put

From a comment here:

As some comments here will surely show, it is politically impossible to avoid economic cataclysm now. We can pretend we are still a rich country that can engage in all kinds of boondoggles only by borrowing. The "front" must be maintained at all costs, and that is all we are doing, propping up a facade. Right wing progressives bristle at the mention of cuts in "military" spending and left wing progressives are in the streets over cuts in "entitlements". Neither can be reasoned with and are united in only one thing, seeing that no one but them is in charge.

Nothing will stop this farce from proceeding to its final, and terminal, phase. The Bismarckian Welfare State is tottering toward the grave it dug for itself. And those who depend on it are unable to see what is on the other side of that grave because they are unadaptable and unteachable. The signs of decline are unmistakable and the point of free fall will happen quite rapidly when it is reached. Then we will either learn to live as free men, taking care of ourselves instead of pushing our responsibilities on to others through the State, or we will die.