UNITED STATES: "The politics of debt: Seeing red; America's debt is Barack Obama's biggest weakness," The Economist, 13 June 2009.

It's the late 1980s and early 1990s all over again.

Remember when we were going to retire America's debt in X years and we debated whether or not that would be a good thing?

Still, no argument that this is once again a preeminent political issue--with good reason.