weirdness
some people say the government's deficit (and hence, its debt) will be our downfall. others say economic growth will erase it. they're both right. if the economy grows, the deficit will shrink. and the debt will fall to manageable levels. however, if the economy doesn't grow, the deficit will grow. and debt will grow. and we really will collapse. okay, so the question boils down to whether or not the economy will grow or not. i've said this before. it's worth repeating. the economy runs on energy. add more energy, the economy grows. stop adding energy and the economy stops growing. it's really pretty simple. and by energy i pretty much mean oil. some people say we're fast approaching peak oil and the world will run out. other people say there's lots of oil still in the ground. again, they're both right. we're running out of cheap high quality oil. but there's still lots of expensive crappy oil all over the place. what's weird is the people who a) assert there's lots of oil. meaning high quality cheap oil. which would fuel economic growth to never before seen heights. which would make today's colossal debt mountain look like a molehill. yet these same people are b) shrieking the loudest doom and gloom about how the debt will kill us all. huh. it's almost as if they're selling something. or really don't want to regret buying something.