By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large

As bad as our economic situation is, something that has allowed us to persist “through the rain” is the belief that, with the right policies in place, we can still right the ship and put our nation on an achievable path to fiscal soundness, from top to bottom.

What if, however, the dark truth is that such is not the case; if, in reality, there is no longer a workable fix, short of total collapse, to our current predicament? What if it is no longer mathematically possible for Americans to pay off all of the nation’s debt, and that only a complete re-boot of the nation’s economy…to include working through the terrible pain that would go with that (if doing so is even possible)…is the ultimate solution?

Recently-retired U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf declared a few years ago that, by the year 2025…which you’ll notice, if you check your calendar, is not far away at all…the total amount spent on the interest generated by the national debt, plus the spending on so-called entitlement programs, will exceed to the total amount of revenue realized by the government; extra frighteningly, this does not even include any money spent on infrastructure, the military, or anything else necessary to the good working order of a nation-state. It’s clearly not possible for the national financial infrastructure to do anything but implode in the most direct way should such a condition come to pass.

These alarms have been sounded for some time now, but people, in general, seem unwilling to pay attention until crises are absolutely upon them, which appears to be the case here. As difficult as it is to consider the prospect of a complete collapse of the economy, there’s something even worse to ponder: that neither the politicians nor the citizens they (supposedly) serve will have learned anything even after decades and decades of unsound fiscal policies. Should that be the case, it will be every man for himself, because then there will be no society, to speak of – just a fight for survival.