Greece is Irrelevant Compared to What's Unfolding in the U.S.

It just boggles my mind that the whole world, especially the mainstream media in this country, is completely - no, tragically - focused on the possible collapse of tiny Greece, when the real story is unfolding right under our nose in the U.S.  Keep in mind as you read this that Greece's GDP is roughly 3% of total EU GDP.

We all know about California's problems. Right now that State is staring at a $21 billion budget deficit - that forecast is probably too optimistic - and California already is over $6 billion in the hole on its unemployment insurance fund and is borrowing from the Feds to fund payments.  Many States are now borrowing from the Government to fund unemployment claims. California represents 13% of total U.S. GDP, is the seventh largest economy in the world and has well over $500 billion in total debt outstanding (largely muni paper). Compare that to Greece, which has a little over $400 billion in debt and is insignificant in terms of global economic output. Yes,. Greece will default on its debt if it isn't bailed out, but what about California?

How about this piece of news which hit the wires yesterday afternoon after the stock market was safely closed:  the New Jersey Governor declared a "fiscal emergency" because the latest budget proposal now has an $11 billion deficit, up from an $8 billion forecast deficit as recently as November, and up from the deficit in the current year which is projected to be $2.2 billion.  Here's the Reuters link: NJ To Take a Dirt Nap? Last year New Jersey ranked 7th in relative economic output by State.

How about Pennsylvania? In a little-reported event last week, the State capitol city of Harrisburg is contemplating a Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing. Pennsylvania ranks 6th in economic output. New York is running toward the brick wall of insolvency. NY ranks 3rd in economic output. Ditto Illinois, which ranks 5th. Same for North Carolina, which ranks 9th. Michigan, Ohio, Nevada...

Anyone now think Greece looks problematic in the grand scheme of economic problems? And this analysis does not address the Federal Government debt swamp. Let me just say that anyone who believes Obama's forecast of $1.6 trillion for the next fiscal year is doing way too many bong hits. That budget deficit projection does not include an accounting calculation of the Government guaranteed entitlement payouts from all of the long term legacy psuedo-welfare programs like Social Security, Medicare, etc. From a financial accounting standpoint, that calculation needs to be taken into account annually, similar to the way it is required for all businesses. It also does not include several $100 billion in "off-budget" military expenditures. And the amount of total Treasury debt outstanding currently should include, but does not, some calculation that takes into account all of the recent guarantees issued by the Treasury in the last year which back trillions in banking system liablilities. Included in this number would be the $6 trillion of FNM/FRE debt being guaranteed, $600 billion in FHA mortgage paper, and the $1.25 trillion in mortgage paper purchased by the Fed.  There are several other financial guarantee programs that will require billions in funding this year, like FDIC.

Anyone see any problems here? When you stack all of the above up against Greece, or even an aggregate of the so-called PIIGS + the UK, I think I'd rather have the EU problems than the catastrophic Debt Bubble getting ready to explode in the U.S. Make no mistake about it, Bernanke will soon be forced to seriously crank up his electronic printing press and dispatch a whole fleet of B-52 bombers to implement his infamous cash drop on a collapsing empire.  It's exactly this predicament that is causing gold to move inexorably higher, making all those who forecast gold's price demise and lack of value look like complete idiots.