Adopting the healthcare policies of maryland will cut down federal budget expenses by 600 B , reducing defense expenses by 30% would yield another reduction of 240 B. The total ( 840 B ) is almost enough to cover the whole budget deficit ( 972 B ).
It is actually posible to cut the military spending by half.
400 B is stil more than the combined expenditure of China , Russia, UK , Japan and France.
Hell, 400 B still beats the whole Eropean Union + China.
Note : the chart is outdated , the current defense expenditure is of 856 B
http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/classic
That's a big saving, so I don't think economic collapse is on the corner... it's just a matter of adjusting the budget.
Watching the prices on metals is a good practice ( as the video advices ) .
http://www.kitco.com/charts/historicalgold.html
http://www.kitco.com/charts/historicalsilver.html
Currently the silver price is around 18 USD, but it reached a peak of 45 USD in 2011.
Currently the gold price is around 1300 USD , but in july 2011 it reached a peak of 1800.
If you are really woried about the world running away from the dollar just watch closely the gold price.
London Fix Historical gold - result
Somehow the metal markets knew what was comming... the gold and silver prices went up starting from january , nine months before Leehman Brothers broke.