Not in the lives lost but, in the hold they have on People. Liberalism can be the last straw. Conservatism in it's broadest form is the only thing that can check it. Make no mistake, we must check it!
As resident pessimist, I have to point out that Conservatism is unlikely to be able check it at this point. As this thread pointed out, just winning the elections requires unseemly compromises. As I have pointed out on other threads, there just isn't an option to fix this anymore.
The Tea Party could have gotten everything they wanted, and it wouldn't matter. Conservatism isn't going to check this. The liberals cannot think, they cannot listen. They cannot be reasoned with. They will not stop. We cannot check them. Reality, however, can, and will.
And the reality is someone has to get slaughtered, and someone's ox must be gored - Social Security/Medicare Recipients, foreign creditors- someone isn't going to get paid and promises are not going to be kept. It will be a default in some way shape or form. If the Tea Party gets their way, it WILL force a very painful deflationary depression - and in the short term . If the Liberals get theirs, we WILL eventually get hyperinflation. It really the whole band-aid question - are you the type to rip it off and take the pain now, or the type to try and procrastinate and take it off bit by bit? Pain is involved either way. I , like most of this forum, would prefer a deflationary depression - I saved money, and I would be rewarded for doing so in such an event, and the event would be shorter lived. Prices would return to normal quickly and then we can get on with rebuilding. . But the majority of Americans didn't save money, so extend and pretend, and make the problem bigger and worse is and will remain the name of the game.
And when this goes it will be world wide, and the standard of living world wide will drop at least 50%, and there is a really good chance there will be a World War, since similar events caused the last two. Its rather unchristian of me, but I am hoping that most of the liberals die in the political upheaval, riots, and famines that follow. I certainly won't lift a finger to save or help them.