It seems like a strange irony. It's the most powerful nation the world has ever witnessed - militarily, at least. Yet its weakness financially is turning up in all sorts of places. Stubbornly high joblessness. Zombie banks. A wobbly stock market. Terrible foreclosure statistics. And debt - both private and public - out the wazoo, in figures we can't even apprehend. Can the two exist together? A powerful military along with a deteriorating financial system? Not likely. Actually the question could be posed, why hasn't the entire thing collapsed already?

Certainly, the U. S. government is bankrupt. There is no way it can fulfill its guarantees to future generations of Americans pertaining to medical care and old-age pensions, let alone sustain its armed forces presence around the globe. And I've not even mentioned the cost of servicing the nation's debt - let alone paying some of it back which is not even on the radar screen. When I said the federal government cannot do it, I meant that. Not even with raising taxes.

It's bankrupt and it sustains itself through its power (until now) to borrow from foreign governments and to create dollars out of nothing to make payments on its obligations. When the first has gone, the next will go, as people say, "to the moon." The consequences associated with practically limitless money creation by the Federal Reserve to meet the financing needs of the central government will be devastating. Plan for it as if your future depends on it, because it does.

If you are planning your retirement living based on the supposition that you'll get the same government benefits in your old age that your parents did, you are in for a ugly disappointment. For you, as well as millions like you, retirement is going to be repealed.