Quote Originally Posted by hatidua View Post
It doesn't matter if Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are both uncles of yours and you golf with them on the weekends - we all know a few folks who are loaded. However, stop the welfare payments, nationwide, for six weeks and it'll make the mess in Egypt/Turkey/Ukraine look like a pleasant picnic in the park on a warm Sunday afternoon. Yes, there are more millionaires in the U.S. in 2014 than at any time in the past but there are also more people on food stamps and welfare than at any point in the past as well. If you research what has caused some of the unrest abroad, it might make that a more poignant thing to consider.

I'm not suggesting I see a collapse but discounting various societal indicators simply because you know a few dozen people for whom money is no object is completely beside the point.
Oh of course- the welfare folks and the poor will be eating the rich- for lack of a better term, if their gravy train ever stops. And I agree- the one way this country will rip itself apart is when that government money stops flowing to the people who live off of it.
Quote Originally Posted by HoneyBadger View Post
All those dollars don't mean a thing when they don't have any real value... (Fiat currency)
That is a very good point. I think when that time comes we'll have some real problems, but don't discredit this nation's role in the world economy. A lot of other nations depend on us not to fail.