This is what makes me think we're only in phase 1 of the financial meltdown. The article tries to paint a rosy picture saying we just need the "political will"

This is what makes me think we're only in phase 1 of the financial meltdown. The article tries to paint a rosy picture saying we just need the "political will" to make changes. But we're a nation where the national debt's risen from 8 Trillion in Oct. 2005 to 14 Trillion a mere 5 years later yet we've chosen to run up a projected 1.6 trillion deficit this year. So where's that political will? And if cities and states start declaring bankruptcy it will impact the country in two important ways: 1. All the state workers will see their pensions evaporate to the bare minimum which will cause them to cut their spending to the bare minimum. 2. All the 401(k) plans that are filled with supposedly safe muni bonds are going to see their investments evaporate which will cause the holders of those 401(k) plans to cut their spending to the bare minimum. My argument is the net effect of this is all those people are essentially unemployed as far as the economy's concerned. Because unemployed people are provided the bare minimum by the state so a person who is working but living on a bare minimum budget has the same economic impact. Suddenly you have a society that consists of people who don't have money and people who have money but put it all in savings which does next to nothing to spur the economy. Meaning the nation is going to be faced with a scenario that mimics an unemployment rate of 60% or more and I can't imagine what will happen then.