An impending perfect storm--or more accurately: a perfect shitstorm--unlike anything America has seen as a society, perhaps ever, is about to play out between now and our General Election this November. In part, due to 7-1/2 years of the most irresponsible leadership our country's ever seen, there are forces at work mostly now totally beyond our control that foretell true gloom and doom for America for many years, if not decades or generations.

We appear to be on the brink of World War...again.
Israel will--more than likely--attack Iran in the next few weeks or months. Public opinion will significantly shift toward the right once this occurs.

In the past few months--and certainly within the past few days and weeks--the U.S. has LOST almost all of its financial credibility. Our word means nothing. Unbeknownst to most, our economy really is in a shambles; and it's about to get much worse.
Stories  now being widely circulated throughout Europe that a full-scale meltdown of the U.S. economy is imminent. The most recent conventional wisdom throughout the rest of the world is that the U.S.'s credibility, with regard to the management of our own economic affairs is at best, incompetent, and more than likely, downright dishonest. And, without any perceived credibility and integrity behind the management of our own monetary policy, most of the rest of the world's developed countries are taking matters into their own hands.

Here's just a little of today's press coverage...it is very, very, very ugly:

"RBS issues global stock and credit crash alert."

Morgan Stanley warns of 'catastrophic event'

Let me spell just a little of this out for us:
--Inflation, the likes of which we've never seen.
--Devaluation of our currency, the likes of which we've never seen.
--No municipal bonds in the near-term, no student loans, little or no credit. Anywhere in the U.S.

$200 per barrel/$7 per gallon oil will be upon us by Fall.
The declining value of the dollar, world unrest--see above--and demand from outside of our country all but assures that this will occur.

The most obvious sign of global warming to date will become a reality in weeks. There's a 50-50 chance that the brief but complete elimination of ice on the North Pole will be noted by the press in early September.

So, let's continue with our self-absorbed rants about minor, day-to-day occurrences relating to our national election. Have a drink. Smoke 'em if you've got 'em. (Whatever "em" might be.) If we, as a group, don't dramatically change the focus of our own commentary--virtually immediately--we are truly screwed. Truth be told, it's already too late. In fact, it's virtually to the point where there's little we can do about this light at the end of the tunnel coming down the tracks even with us recognizing it for what it is: A TRAIN.

Please consider this a call from a fellow blogger to shift our focus away from the daily (often inconsequential) nuances of our Presidential campaign. Rome is burning. We'll be proverbial toast before either Obama or (god forbid) McCain take office in January. IMHO, it's time we started focusing a LOT more of our attention (spent) here on these critical and very time-sensitive realities. Right. Here. Right. NOW!

I will do my bit to shift the conversation. Will you?