Your guess is probably right. I would call it the Venezuela approach. Try for a soft landing- but there is the end of the runway and when you get there, a crash results. There is a let if wealth for socialism to use up in the USA before the crash happens here. Maybe 50 years worth?

"And cuts aren’t likely to be voted by politicians."
My guess is politicians will enact modest service cuts and tax increases and the Fed will assist with loose policy (with higher inflation) once the crisis materializes, avoiding a dramatic cataclysm. This is just a guess.

And cuts aren’t likely to be voted by politicians. That means we will have. A collapse if the US dollar either slowly through inflation or all of a sudden due to some sort of apocalyptic event or massive loss of confidence

That is correct. GDP rises over time, but probably not enough to overcome the fact we're digging in 1 trillion a year deeper. I think you're right that just freezing spending wouldn't quite be enough to do it. There have to be some cuts.

But current spending incurs a trillion dollar deficit. So a trillion dollar cutback would be required to just not make the problem get worse.

"dramatic cutbacks"
It doesn't have to be either dramatic cutbacks or massive deficits. We could have just frozen spending. We keep increasing it, regardless of whether it' Bush, Obama, or Trump. If we froze spending the problem would resolve without drama. But I completely agree with you that we'll only address it in a dramatic mini-crisis.

I think we have been lucky for years already. I think the money printing has gone on so long that to stop doing it would cause at least a serious recession, and dramatic cutbacks in entitled social programs. And if we tried to pay back the national debt, taxes would have to go up creating a more serious recession. The other way to pay back the recession would be to have fairly serious inflation of 10% per year for a number of years. That would cause a radical reduction in private and corporate wealth, and again a serious recession or depression.

I'm generally an optimist, esp about the long run, but I think you're describing the unfortunate truth. I'll write an occasional letter. I've thanked my senator, Ron Johnson, for having the national debt on his home page. They will listen if enough voters write to them and mention the issue at fundraisers. But I'm not optimistic that any action will happen without a mini-crisis.

Given that non discretionary spending is MOST of the budget, and that is controlled by long standing promises of welfare and medicare spending, the budget will creep up no matter what the politicians do.
I agree, none of this is going to be voted in by politicians.

There is only a crash of some sort to look forward to when they cant kick the can down the road any further.

"Since there is a 1t deficit each year, we would have to cut government deficit out completely and THEN freeze that reduced budget. "
1. Recessions and expansions are normal stages in the economic cycle, but I completely agree that it's politically impossible to call for something that resolves a long-term problem but is unpleasant for several quarters, esp if it puts politicians out of work.
2. You don't actually have to freeze the reduced budget. The economy grows each year. If you freeze spending, meaning decreased per capita spending goes down, the problem resolves itself slowly. Of course some people see even decreasing the rate of spending growth as draconian "cuts". Any solution is politically difficult to execute, even though the actual problem is simple.

Since there is a 1t deficit each year, we would have to cut government deficit out completely and THEN freeze that reduced budget. Instant recession and lots of politicians out of work. Something tells me it’s not going to happen

If we simply froze gov't spending, the fiscal deficit and its twin, the trade deficit, would disappear over time.

But not only is there incentive to party now and pay later, mini-crises are actually beneficial to politicians who can do things they otherwise couldn't if we did the boring approach of addressing the problems responsibly ahead of time. Rahm Emmanuel said that explicitly.

leftist thinkingvand actions have created a huge national debt of 21 trillion and rising by 1t a year just to maintain the economy as it is now. Ceasing the printing if money would toss into a recession. Fixing the trade imbalance would probably make that a depression. And result in major price increases. Leaving money printing and trade imbalances alone will kick the can down the road until something triggers a collapse that money printing can’t fix

So it’s pay me now or pay me later. Politicians never want to pay now and give up re election. So they kick the can down the road. Therefore I think that an apocalyptic economic event will be sprung on us when the fiscal tricks the establishment plays stop working

So Iits looking like we are in for a rough ride where a lot of wealth simply disappears from the financial system. (It’s really gone already, but that is hidden by borrowing and the Fed)

Yes. A Captain Obvious remark on my part is I hope we avoid cataclysms and continue expanding free enterprise to raise standards of living for humankind. I know that's obvious, but people don't say it enough.

There is a certain advantage to being old.
We are already doomed by our age.

No plan is foolproof, I agree. But then, if there really is a nuclear holocaust, they probably won't survive the first volley to head for the planes.

In the event of a nuclear holocaust, how is their plane going to fly? The electronics will be wiped out with EMP, they won't be able to gas up (no electronics to run the pumps) and no one in New Zealand will be there to land them.

It’s english so collectivist, tempered by the realities of isolation. It is isolated, which is an advantage

Moving from the Atlantic coastline to a place that doesn’t have natural disasters is escapism too?

Me dino lives at the edge of forestation with lots of birds and squirrels just in the yard to shoot at with a BB gun.
I can also hunt deer and turkey with a shotgun.
Can't afford to do much else.
Have a lot of ammo. Problematic is eventually running out of bang-bangs.

I've been to New Zealand, and while a beautiful country, they live on their own precipice of apocalypse, sitting on a supervolcano, with so many aftershocks from the 2010 earthquake they still can't rebuild Christchurch (sad, since I still remember how beautiful it was when I visited in the 1970s). Not exactly the ideal place to escape to.

...Modern American Diet...(MAD)...guaranteed to kill you before your time...

My first trip there was about '86 and I was unimpressed. Bad weather and the local tourism lacked any ability to respond. Bailed out and went to Hawaii for a few days instead.
But I returned and lived in NZ for about 2 years in 2010-2012. Some things better, but still not enough free market thinking for me.

To quote Blarman. “This is just escapism.”

I want the bedroom closest to the bathroom!

You are correct, not enough food storage, one bedroom has no closet and notice, only two can eat at the table at one time...a whole lot more thought and planning needs to be done but aside from that, it's a start.

The assumption though is that some assemblence of civilization will still exist. Some of the disaster scenarios suggest that it won't.