China looking to repeat

That roar you heard was not the thunder clap of a stormy economy, it was the continuing landslide of America's dominance as a superpower. Lost amidst the din of news focused on the Dow was the launching of a Chinese aircraft carrier. Does anyone remember the last time a country (not the U.S.) floated a new multi-thousand ton enforcer of diplomacy? Be sure of two things: first no country remains an empire forever (just ask the British, Italians, Japanese, Chinese, Huns, mongrels, Persians);and no country has ever repeated after losing that status. China looks to change that trend.

What Will Tea Party Do Once Spending is Reduced to Zero?

Let us ignore for a second that the debt ceiling has been raised roughly 15 times or so over the last four presidencies with almost no fanfare.  I have some simple questions: aren't at least some of those constituents who are constantly calling for dramatic reductions in government spending beneficiaries of the very spending they are demanding be cut?  I refuse to believe that there is not a single conservative (Tea Party, Green Party, Grand Old Party, etc) who is not on medicare, medicaid, welfare, social security, a graduate of (or a parent of a student in a) public college.  Do none of them take public transportation, drive on paved side streets, or encounter properly functioning traffic signals?  Are these people somehow capable of traversing only the self-funded (and sometimes privately owned) tollways of society?

Certainly, every dollar spent by the government should be an investment, and should mean a return.  In short, however, no investment (no spending) means no return (except to a government-less stone-age). 

The debt ceiling was raised, but Majority Leader Harry Reid mentioned that no one is happy about what they got.  Judges call that a successful settlement negotiation.  Here is what FoxNews had to say about the immediate economic future: Deficit battle could result in Tea Party's dissolving

Someone please warn me when the tax shears sever the roots of the money tree, so I can be sure to stay off the roads.  Until then, fiscal responsibility should be the name of the game, but mindless (and irrational/emotional) spending cuts are just as treacherous as mindless (and irrational/emotional) spending.