All It Takes Is All You Got

The author argues that US sovereign debt is headed for a crisis far larger than 2000 or 2008, and that the government will seize household assets to cover its obligations. The piece cites a Wall Street Journal line that rapid market growth "has ended badly in the past" and that instability in Treasurys could spread, and it places 2001, 2008 and 2020 on a scale from ignorable to decadal to civilizational. It cites Treasury's own statement that the Social Security and Medicare need of $175.3 trillion in present-value terms "can be satisfied only through increased borrowing, higher taxes, reduced program spending, or some combination." It also responds to Brent Donnelly's view that the debt does not matter, saying household assets of about $177 trillion are not government assets.