The old adage of a picture speaking a thousand words is quite apt in the case of the following chart of US budget surplus/deficit as a percentage of GDP.
Apart from a couple of temporary blips, the United States has been spending more than it brings in since the early 1970’s. Currently running a deficit on a par with that of the Civil War and half way to World War One you have to ask where this is all going to end :
One interesting point to note is that the early 1970’s was when the US moved over to an unbacked fiat currency system after Nixon abandoned the redemption of dollars in gold.
As with all artificial currencies, when there is no limit to how much money you can print you can guarantee that the politicians will do just that rather than make decisions which affect their chances of re-election in the future.
Nixon breaking the link to gold is the key moment, and since that time there has been nothing to restrain massive devaluation.
Trooper – yes and how much longer can pure belief keep this fiat system going?