The public finances are in a very poor condition. We are swimming towards the vortex.

Family circumstances required me to drive 840 miles in the last 33 hours. At least it gave me time to muse.

One thought was: since we went off the gold standard, the US dollar has been backed by the "full faith and credit" of the United States (usually as one word: fulfaithncredit)

As you note, our credit has begun to be questioned (thus far mostly in furrowed brows and whispers, but) as the deficit has shot up, and while our legislators have repeatedly played chicken with a default.

Then there's the "faith" half of the formula. America's word has been good. As the saying goes, we will do the right thing, after trying everything else. Have faith in America.

Uh, maybe not. Not anymore.

So after the 'faith' and 'credit' parts have been lined out of fulfaithncredit...they're just pieces of paper. Perhaps we can dust off the phrase, Not worth a Continental.(1)

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Another thought that occurred to me this afternoon: my grandparents were in their early 40s in the few months after Pearl Harbor. Thus, in early 1942 their parents were in their mid/late 60s, the age that I am now.

At that point, Japan had free reign over the Pacific. Hawaii and Australia were actively threatened; Fortress Singapore had fallen.

Plus, we were suddenly at war with Germany as well - the nation that had rapidly built up its military, infrastructure, economy and then abruptly conquered Poland, France, Belgium...all of Western Europe, basically. The English were just barely hanging on.

I think the world view of any reading and thinking members of my great-grandparents' generation at that time was probably qualitatively not too far from where we are on this board at the moment.

I'm thinking at that time my great-grandpa Walter might have summed up his views on what was going to happen in the next few years by using precisely the same words as one of Goofyhoofy's post on Shrewd'm last week: I have no fucking idea

-- sutton

(1) idiomorigins.org - Not give or not worth a continental