Playing with a short stack

I've been trying to think of a way to frame the idea that runaway federal spending, including entitlement liabilities which have amassed over decades, is leading to a debt "tipping point" where we'll fall into a trap of permanent low growth and high unemployment.

Think of America at a poker table. For most of our history we've had a really big stack to play with and - perhaps more importantly - easy access to the ATM, with low fees. This gives us a lot of flexibility in the game since we can afford to play a lot of hands and we have the chips to bluff, bully, call, raise, or fold. We can absorb the bad beats because we have the cash and the credit.

But when you're down to a short stack of chips, your options become much more limited. You can't throw around money like you did before and you're forced to wait for good hands (while your blinds are siphoned away.) What's worse, the bank thinks you have a gambling problem and has made it more difficult and/or expensive to take money from the ATM. But you need to keep playing, so you borrow more money to 1) pay back old gambling debts and 2) stay in the game. Which leads to more debt...and now the bank is insisting that you adopt "austerity measures" if you want more cash.

All too soon and before you even realized you have a crippling debt problem, you're taking a serious look at Hawaii and wondering if you can sell it to the Japanese for some fast cash.