Look at the last two decades of the pre global fiat currency era in the US, the 1950s and 1960s. The total increase of the Treasury's debt "limit" over those TWENTY years was $US 102 Billion. At the end of the 1960s, the population of the US was two-thirds of what it is today. Because the US government still faced the possibility of having to redeem its Dollars for Gold, that was as much as they dared borrow to "govern" just over 200 million people.

But the US government has not faced that possibility now for almost four decades. Look at the cost deemed necessary to govern just over 300 million people today. Over the first two months of fiscal 2010 (October - November 2009), US Treasury debt increased by $US 292 Billion. That's an average of $US 4.8 Billion every single DAY - 365 days per year! In the 20 years between 1950 and 1970, the debt "limit" increased at an average rate of $US 5.1 Billion every YEAR! Such is the damage which has been done by removing the discipline of Gold convertibility from the monetary systems of the world.

There is no "cure" for the present situation short of an almost instant reversion to GENUINE budget surpluses, an act which would cut the spending of the US federal government by well over 50 percent instantly. Both the welfare state and any vestige of "stimulus" packages would have to be totally jettisoned. There is neither the political will nor the demand from Americans for ANY of this to take place. The situation is very simple. We have seen the last full decade of the fiat currency era. The only question now is how much of the next decade will pass before it collapses.