Just checking in with the state of the union today.  Here's where we're at:   (from  http://money.msn.com/mutual-fund/us-default-doomsday-for-investors-marketwatch.aspx?GT1=33002 -
 "US default: Doomsday for investors" )

It's no joke. The sky over the investment world and everything under it -- including bonds, stocks, money markets, commodities, you name it -- will fall unless lawmakers raise the $14.3 trillion federal debt ceiling by Aug. 2.

It would be nothing less than catastrophic, and worse than the financial meltdown of the late 2000s, should Uncle Sam fail to raise the legal limit on government borrowing and instead default on U.S. debt, according to Greg McBride, a CFA charterholder and senior analyst for Bankrate.com. "There will be no safe haven," McBride said.

Whether true or not, the message emanating from the mass media is crystal clear:  We have to borrow, or the sky will fall.  Nice.

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