US gubmint shutdown + default + subprime sequel?

[Xiahou]

The deal itself is a total sham from what I've seen of it. The only real cuts are the cuts that take place in 2012. And they amount to about 2/10ths of one percent of federal spending. If trimming a fraction of a percent from our bloated government nearly collapsed civilization as we know it.... we're pretty well screwed aren't we? As so often is the case with Congress, this was a meaningless gesture.

Remember when it looked like we'd be buying back all of them government bonds in the '90s? There was a lot of panic about what effect not having government debt would do. Seems so naive and quaint at this reserve.

It's worth noting that even in the glorious 90's we were only running a surplus if you didn't count entitlements. In reality our budget problems were still mounting even then.