Steve Scully, C-Span: You know the numbers, $1.7 trillion debt, a national deficit of $11 trillion. At what point do we run out of money?
Obama: Well, we are out of money now.
The United States has been an empire in decline since the 1970s. As has been the case with every other declining world power in history, there are a variety of reasons for this decline, which is why there are no straightforward solutions for reversing it. In looking at the situation, however, it is clear that there are a number of contributing factors that are more important than others. Among them include:
1. The abandonment of constitutional money
2. The expansion of the voting franchise
3. Global military aspirations
4. Transformation of the labor force
5. Mass immigration
UPDATE – Krugman sees California as a potential bellwether too: [T]he California precedent still has me rattled. Who would have thought that America’s largest state, a state whose economy is larger than that of all but a few nations, could so easily become a banana republic? On the other hand, the problems that plague California politics apply at the national level too.