Apologies: I tried to get a direct link for the brief video that I found interesting. The discussion re Gretchen Morgenson and Josh Rosner does not give as much depth to the US problem as the video following - a discussion between Pento, (a view from the Austrian school of economics) and Aaron Task. The easiest way to hear this, and I do think it is worthwhile (the first re their book is only mildly so) is to move the time cursor to the finish if you don't want to hear the first one (recommended), and listen to the short video that comes on next.

Some important principles such as "the total of government, private & commercial debt is now 240% of GDP (gross domestic product)" and where he states that if Bernake continues on the present course then we are headed into an inflationary depression; if he pays down debt slowly and no more money printing then we are headed into a deflationary depression.

I gather he most likely favors the former, getting the bad stuff over with and getting on with it, whereas the politics involved with the election in 2012 coming up merely prolong the inevitable. Both these scenarios will have an enormous effect on the price of gold, in particular.