The only bit that is ridiculous in this story is that the timeframe is projected into the future, Fed Chair: ‘Deficits Will Rise to Unsustainable Levels’. What do they think happens when the government diverts output down various plug holes, that the entire country disappears into thin air? What happens is that over so slowly real incomes begin to fall and the communal environment begins to crumble. There will certainly still be many wealthy people, but the average will move in only one direction.

In the US they pretend that time is on their side but it isn’t. Things are long past being just line ball. There will be a fall in living standards. The only question is whether there will be a recovery and if so when. Personally I do not see the slightest evidence of a will to change things around in the US.

But at least here we do have just that chance. We are dealing with a junior version of just this debt problem ourselves. The ALP talks about what geniuses they had been since debt-to-GDP was only about 37% when they left office. They never dwell on the figure when they came into office – ZERO – nor where debt levels are likely to go if nothing is done.

This stuff is hard and generally uninteresting for most people. Just gimmee the loot or I’ll bring in the other mob who will. We here may not quite be at that stage but perhaps we are. What Janet really would like to say is what Joe Hockey’s been saying: HELP! HELP! HELP! THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE! but she can’t because she does not wish to bite the hand that fed her. But she knows.