are part of the problem that makes this period of fiscal crisis so much different from the one in the mid to late 1940s.

We (imo, of course) are dangerously close to the point where we will have to go to a policy of monetization...and the US is only able to operate as we have been because of investor confidence. Its like Bear Stearns on steroids...all is well if you can keep the investors happy...once they flee, the house of cards collapses very quickly.