Everything Is Fine, But…

Sadly, what we are experiencing right now is a "mini-hope bubble" that has been produced by an unprecedented debt binge by the federal government and by unprecedented money printing by the Federal Reserve.  Once this "sugar high" wears off, it will be glaringly apparent that by "kicking the can down the road" Bernanke and Obama have made our long-term problems even worse.
Unfortunately, most Americans don't understand these things.
Most Americans just let their televisions do their thinking for them, and right now their televisions are telling them that everything is going to be fine.

But is that really the case?

Everything is fine, but the city of Detroit has just filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy.  It will be the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history...

Detroit filed for the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history Thursday after steep population and tax base declines sent it tumbling toward insolvency.
The filing by a state-appointed emergency manager means that if the bankruptcy filing is approved, city assets could be liquidated to satisfy demands for payment.

Wait a minute, didn't Barack Obama say that he "refused to let Detroit go bankrupt" less than a year ago?
Everything is fine, but continuing claims for unemployment benefits just spiked to the highest level since early 2009.
Everything is fine, but in the month of June spending at restaurants fell by the most that we have seen since February 2008.
Everything is fine, but Google's earnings for the second quarter came in way below expectations.
Everything is fine, but Microsoft's earnings for the second quarter came in way below expectations.
Everything is fine, but chip maker Intel has reported revenue declines for four quarters in a row.
Everything is fine, but the number of housing starts in June was the lowest that we have seen in almost a year.
Everything is fine, but the number of mortgage applications has dropped 45 percent since May.
Everything is fine, but the homeownership rate in America is now at its lowest level in nearly 18 years.
Everything is fine, but the United States is losing half a million jobs to China every single year.
Everything is fine, but the U.S. economy actually lost 240,000 full-time jobs last month.
Everything is fine, but the number of full-time workers in the United States is now nearly 6 million below the old record that was set back in 2007.
Everything is fine, but 40 percent of all U.S. workers make less than $20,000 a year at this point.
Everything is fine, but robots are starting to take over fast food jobs.  If working class Americans someday won't even be able to work at McDonald's, what will they do to earn money in the years ahead as the jobs disappear?
Everything is fine, but the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline has now reached $3.66.
Everything is fine, but the number of Americans on food stamps has increased by almost 50 percent while Obama has been in the White House.
Everything is fine, but the U.S. government is going to borrow about 4 trillion dollars in fiscal 2013.
Everything is fine, but worldwide business confidence has fallen to the lowest level since the last recession.
Everything is fine, but the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff just told Congress that Obama is considering using the U.S. military to intervene in the conflict in Syria.

Unfortunately, the cold, hard reality of the matter is that everything is NOT fine.
As a nation, we consume far more wealth that we produce.
As a nation, we buy far more stuff from the rest of the world than they buy from us.
As a nation, our debt is growing at a much faster pace than our economy is.
As a nation, our share of global GDP has been dropping like a rock over the past decade.