Reply #4: You know, you may just be plugging your ears here.

[napoleon_in_rags]

I'm saying maybe you're right, but maybe this article is describing what's going on. I've talked to plenty of Europeans, an they don't have Fox news, they didn't have FDR, but people are taking to the streets as it comes out that pensions are being cut. I saw a pretty thoughtful rant movie called "Collapse" by this guy Michael Ruppert, and it basically made the point that once oil production peaks, the whole way of life of the previous century becomes impossible, and he believes that peak is happening right around now. This slowly sucks life from the economy and all these old things become impossible. Notice the article quotes the UK, not America on this:

Britain's ... retirement promises have become a "Madoff-style pyramid, now collapsing under the weight of insufficient contributions, rising longevity and an ageing workforce", Michael Johnson said in his report for the Centre for Policy Studies, "Self-sufficiency is the key".

The article goes on to talk about numerous other countries. If you read between the lines here, the crunch is on the whole economy. The government debt is about governments producing money not translated into real products and services, you can argue that its because its being shoved into the pockets of the rich, or because the slow unstoppable rise in oil prices leading to less production of products and services, but there it is, and its global.