redandblack wrote:The Tea Party won't allow the 'temporary' tax cuts for the wealthy to be rescinded.
Yes, I think it is likely that the recent temporary "solution" will be repeated at the next due date, and that the US will not learn, quickly, that a country cannot just go on piling up debt any more than a family can.
The "developed" world is going to have to learn to live within its budget and not keep borrowing in hope that an expanding population and expanding economy will solve it all later.
We should be preparing for a significant world recession when the US and the PIIGS run into the brick wall soon.
Oz is well placed to survive this slump, given our minimal debt compared to the rest of our peers, and our mining boom, but we need to balance our books too.
We can't rely on
"our debt is the lowest in the developed world" as an excuse to be careless.
The world also has to face the music on world population levels - the most important factor in pollution and our CO2 emissions.
[And also a driving factor in our refugee problems.]