I want to talk about the greatest thing our forefathers and mothers left us here in the United States.

It's known around the world that the United States always pays its debts. Rain or shine, war or peace. Whether we're a scrappy young country or the sole remaining superpower. Hey you might not like us, or we might not like you, but that's not the point. You will invest in the United States because when it comes to money our word is sacred. We are safe. We're pretty much the only country that people depend on this way. It's something we can and should be proud of.

And that, I hear, is the cornerstone of the world economy. Take away the trust in the United States economy and the whole thing crumbles.

The tradition goes all the way back to the first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton.

And because of that, our currency is the reserve currency of the world. We create money that everyone believes in. We are exceptional in this regard. It's why we live relatively well while producing relatively little. The thing we make that everyone wants that no one else can make is the US dollar. But it doesn't have to continue that way. We could be the generation that blows up the legacy. Simply by failing to pay the interest on our debt. Which is, I understand, what would happen if the Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling. Or even seems to be seriously considering it. That would spoil the trance and we would quickly (instantly) lose what makes us special.

The people we elected are getting ready to piss that away. If we let it happen not only will our children and grandchildren curse us, rightly, but so will the ghosts of our ancestors. We will go down as the stupidest generation ever. The one who had it all and threw it all away.