So much depends on how a person wants to look at it. If you go to the Fed site and look at the debt chart for the US it does not look so bad. It starts in 1966. But go back further and it soon starts looking........... no it is.......... a hockey stick.

When it ends???? Who knows. There have been (a few) people arguing this was going to happen since we went completely off the gold standard. Probably some even before that but the ones I recall reading about are mostly in the last 40 years. So although they may ultimately be proven "right", being wrong for 40 years does not do much good for ones finances if investments were based on it.

Maybe it will go another 40 years. I don't know. I doubt it, but I don't know. If the powers that be can convince the people to give them "one more chance" even if it does blow up, likely we will just start at some midpoint again where the connected get to keep most of what they have, the rest of us peons get thrown under the bus, and we start that same flawed system back up. It is only through education of the public at large that we do not go right back into the same tar pit financial system after any reset or partial reset.

My whole "thing" is not that I can predict or do anything about where this is ultimately going. Either the where or the timing. But being at least aware of the potential outcomes and understanding how the system really works (as opposed to how most people perceive it works) it might give me a somewhat better chance of stepping aside the tracks as the train approaches. That is the intent of all this research and discussion from my personal self interest standpoint.

US debt in chart form

John