Also, this article, published way back on the 21st of may:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/recover...collapse/30960
contains this rather eerie prediction, about half way down, that republicans will generate a crisis over the debt ceiling to distract people from the real issue:
"Recently Bill Moyers interviewed Simon Johnson, formerly chief economist of the International Monetary Fund and currently professor at MIT ... Johnson warns that the Republicans will distract everyone from the real crisis by concocting another “crisis” over the debt ceiling."
which it looks like we're now, in october, not a terribly long way off.
Wikipedia page on Simon Johnson:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Johnson_(economist)
How much attention should I pay to this? Should I tell Dad to get the hell out of the middle east?