Just remember Jack, people around the world vote for the best economies and the best returns with the strongest voice possible...their money. If you think the whole world is stupid and these trillions of dollars in money flows are just stupid people blindly leading into bankruptcy, you keep thinking that. In the meantime I am going to go on living my life like most other people. A little worried, but still believing that this is the intellectual (undereducated???) and financial titan of the world. Other people can have claim to best clothing manufacturing or best toy production...if you really think we need to do things like that here once again you are a flat out fool. If you want to see poverty and struggles, and above all inefficient economies go somewhere else. Just about every other country in the world has those problems much worse than here. You say we are optomistic and patriotic, but the reality is people like you for some reason feel compelled to worry about the worst and do things to help bring it on. Just think about this, what if you are right? What is your reward for living in an economy in shambles? Maybe you saved your money, but what good is having money in a deflationary economy where you can't get a job? What are you trying to "win" here?