America's Fiscal Time Bomb: A Looming Crisis?

In recent write-ups, I have discussed in broad terms some of the highly questionable policies of the Federal Reserve Board and the US Treasury, and how those policies impact us in very real and tangible ways. This week I will dig deeper into the likely ramifications of these policies if our government continues on the same path.

While I love to write about shorter-term trading ideas and strategies to capture profits from developing trends in the markets, it is important that we have a clear perspective on the underlying macroeconomic conditions as they ultimately drive the bigger trends. In future write-ups, I will focus more heavily on trading ideas.

For obvious, self-serving reasons, the political leaders of our country tout the so-called great economic performance of the United States. This is a well-worn practice followed by both of the major political parties in the US, so neither party wins any special awards for deceit and cynicism. Both parties have proved to be quite masterful in this regard.

The reality is that there is something very insidious going on behind the scenes in Washington, and it has been going on a long time. Consider the following basic statistics.