I stopped paying attention to financial doom porn a few years ago. I don't pay attention to the stock market any more and rarely look at gold and silver or other commodity prices. One pile of money stats I've been looking into lately, though, is the financial situation of the 50 American states. The thing that's really interesting to me is the "wealthiest" states are the poorest financially.
The megalopolis states are burdened with the highest per capita debts and huge obligations that can't be met. For the most part, the interior of the country is in a much better fiscal situation, although rust belt states, including Ohio, unfortunately, have large pension obligations that can't be met.
States like Nebraska and Tennessee have low debt per capita and their obligations are covered for the long term. States like California, Massachusetts, and Illinois are very upside down. A couple of years ago, for example, the Illinois Lottery did not pay out. Coincidentally, and not so surprisingly, those states also have the worst household debt to income ratios since the cost of living is generally higher. The idea of "economy of scale" in cities is a fiction.
The states that have high debt and large future obligations won't be able to maintain their infrastructure. (that's probably already happening) Obviously, their taxes will go up as well until their populations flee. (that's already happening)
Debt in the United States is really an agreement to keep the status quo social arrangement, that is, to keep this current system running. The system, though, is losing credibility. Too many people are realizing, for example, that colleges and universities are a scam. The same is true about local school systems. They're very expensive even though information, at this point, is basically free.
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