Point? We don't need no stinking points!

I was simply unloading my stream of consciousness as to why there is no going back. One side is proactively engaged in fundamental realignment while the other side chips away on the margins at miniscule cuts in the rate of growth, and declares victory, all as our neighbors stumble around clueless. Who do you think wins that fight?

As to your post, I think it could be sooner - a US dollar collapse I mean. The greenback is the world's "petro dollar" of reserve. OPEC will only sell to you in dollars. It's why Germany, the UK, even Russia stockpile billions of our currency, to purchase oil. If OPEC moves to accepting the Yen or Ruble, it's lights out. Is there any wonder we don't "crack down" on them as so many clamor for?

I thought about it and I do want to add this: if every action has an equal and opposite reaction then there is a chance, a slim chance, that we will at some point revolt (a peaceful revolt). In other words, a critical mass may be reached whereas a new party is formed to deal with the great issue of the day (fiscal policy) much in the way the Republican Party was founded out of an inability of the Whigs to take on the great issue of their day - the cause of abolition.

Can the tea party do this? Maybe. But I don't think enough of our neighbors are "wide awake" (a slogan that hung in abolitionist offices).