The easiest way to visualize the problem is to look at the figures at http://www.usdebtclock.org/ and chop off 8 zeros from the ends of the key numbers.

Income Last Year $24,491
Amount Spent $35,379
Credit Card Debt $164,177
“Fiscal cliff” Budget cuts proposed $3,960 (Taken by subtracting $1037B-$641B, figures from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_fiscal_cliff)

So it’s pretty clear that all the fiscal cliff hoopla is just that: A lot of squabbling over a nonstarter solution which will fix nothing. The only real fix is to have national, state, and city banks so that the US doesn’t have to borrow all (or any of) its money into existence.

Bill Still’s Money Masters video does a great job of explaining it:

Unless we get rid of Federal Reserve Corporation, there are only two possible outcomes in the long term:

1.) The dollar is inflated to nothing

2.) The USA defaults on its debts and has to raise taxes through the roof because no one will fund it by buying its bonds any more