[With debt spinning wildly out of control and the States threatening to revolt against the tyranny of Washington, we asked some frequent contributors to the Rick’s Picks forum how they thought the nation would look five years from now.  In the essay below, John Skerencac finds these times too volatile to predict, other than to say that some very dramatic changes are surely coming. On the positive side, he sees a nascent revival of America’s manufacturing sector and a trend toward fiscal austerity. But if we fail, he says, there’s always the “Mad Max” option. RA]

Rick was nice enough to ask me to write a short essay stating my view of what the world will look like five years from now. Perhaps with enough of us engaging in an intelligent exchange of ideas, we might help each other make better decisions about where to allocate our resources. First, in my opinion, Congress will continue to ignore the ever growing budget deficit until outside forces compel them to take action. Scenarios for this include:

• Enough States stand up to D.C. and make it obvious that the votes are there to bring down the Federal government via Constitutional Convention or 10th Amendment nullification.
• The Federal Reserve’s three-card monte game of buying Treasuries somehow comes undone, causing an interest rate spike that creates havoc in the economy.
• The world finally repudiates the Dollar as a reserve currency, leaving us no choice but to make draconian cuts.

…..read “The Positive Side” HERE