Last year, Americans believed Federal government debt to be just as dangerous as terrorism. According to the a June 2010 Gallup poll, 4 in 10 Americans ranked both Terrorism and Federal Debt as an “extremely serious” threat to the future well-being of the United States.

One year later, Osama bin Laden is dead. The Wars rage on, and the United States’ menacing military presence in the world has grown. The national debt is over $14 TRILLION dollars. The debt has already pushed past the debt ceiling once and is about to crash into it again.

The showdown in Washington over the debt ceiling has the bond market working overtime this summer, ready and waiting to see if the Treasury will default. On Intrade, people are betting that there will be no increase in the debt ceiling before the end of the month and only about 46% think its possible before the end of July. In the meantime — 80% think that the Federal government will lose its AAA credit rating.

So what if we don’t raise the debt ceiling – what will happen then? Politicians may actually have to make spending cuts. Imagine that