Debt debt debt dash dash dash debt debt debt

(or Save Our Solvency)

[...] iam pridem, ex quo suffragia nulli / uendimus, effudit curas; nam qui dabat olim / imperium, fasces, legiones, omnia, nunc se / continet atque duas tantum res anxius optat, / panem et circenses

(… Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses) Juvenal, Satire 10.77-81, ca. 100 CE

------

August 2. On that date in 1776, the U.S. Declaration of Independence was signed. (How many people think that happened on July 4th?)

On that date this year, unless they do something, the United States will be in default. Perhaps they'll sign a Declaration of Dependence. You think?

But don't worry, they're doing something. They're arguing. Endlessly. The sticking point seems to be...doing anything other than arguing endlessly. It's fun to argue...you can score lots of political points. Then, later, after you've gathered up a boatload of them, you can take your political points down to the food bank and try and exchange them. You won't get any food, but hey, the exercise is good for you.

Ordinary citizens are doing something, too, at least according to Google Trends. Go ahead, check it out. Odds are that no matter what date you read this listing of What Americans Care About Right Now, nothing of any consequence whatsoever will show up on it. Least of all the word "debt".

No surprises here--Neil MacDonald, in the link above, expresses disdain and, reading between the lines, some species of shock that the average American citizen doesn't appear to notice, or care, that his country is going down the toilet. The disdain is understandable; the shock, not so much. As the epigram at the top of this blog demonstrates, "bread and circuses" is not exactly a new concept, and America has taken things considerably further in the "circuses" department than your usual Christians eating lions. Meanwhile, the debt drum beats on. Boom, doom, boom, doom, boom... hey, it's got a catchy beat and you can dance to it!

So what happens before August 2nd? Something's got to. My guess is that they'll agree to raise the debt ceiling at the last minute, in exchange for a package of half-assed measures that will only postpone the problem until sometime after the 2012 elections. And the chief concern will (of course) be who gets to take the fall.

Well, I can save them some posturing on that. America's taking the fall, and at this late date I'm not sure the brakes even work, anymore. The edge of the cliff is within sight, now...economic driver Tim Geithner cites it as August 2nd.

August 2nd. Hang on out there.