When you have the Fed generating $83 billion a month, it is pretty easy to balance the bottom line. Of course, the bailout bought up all the debt the banks generated with bad investments. This kept the govt from having to step up to honor and FDIC losses, as they never materialized. So the Fed sits on mountains of bad investments they will never call, since they can just print what they need and rob all of us to cover the loss.

But no, we're not in bad shape. Not as long as the rest of the world still believes that all those dollars are still worth something.

Let's hope the Chinese never lose faith in us. We keep losing our credit rating, and it will get increasingly difficult to convince everyone else to keep doing business with us without asking for a higher rate of return.