df wrote:
"The Day of Reckoning is fast approaching, and it's going to be very, very ugly."
Of course there will be "a day of reckoning" someday, but I sense that it's "some ways away" yet.
Look at it this way:
The old Soviet Union took about 70 years to reach the point where it was so broke that the communists had to throw in the towel.
Here in the USA, even with the high borrowing and huge deficits, the economy rolls on (albeit slowly) under its own massive momentum.
Add to that the ever-more-creative financing, quantative easing, and all sorts of hat tricks to keep the economy afloat.
I think the current situation could go on for years, moreso if Trump gets elected than o'er-the-hillary (who will accelerate the speed towards collapse).
Of course the train without brakes will derail.
But we've still got a considerable distance to travel down the hill before the final crash at the end.
Aside:
Perhaps it will come when China (and perhaps others) decide to forsake American debt. I've heard that China is literally buying gold by the ton. A friend suggested that at some point China may attempt to establish a new, gold-based international currency in the hope of supplanting the U.S. Dollar.