Yet curiously, even though the US government’s completely ridiculous, untenable fiscal situation is a front page embarrassment for the entire world to see, markets have barely budged. Stocks and bonds haven’t moved because nobody cares what’s happening in the US government anymore. And that’s because every serious investor understands that the US government long since abdicated any economic power to the banking sector.

Everyone knows that the Fed is going to keep printing money, ergo they’re going to keep sending markets higher. The US government and the incompetent elected officials are just giant stooges in this deeply flawed monetary system.

And this debt ceiling charade only proves it. The secret is out there in the open. And now it’s completely obvious who’s really in charge.

Shadow banking loans are estimated to have reached $15 trillion in the US. And among them is a particularly hot category: lending to highly leveraged companies with junk credit ratings. Sophisticated investors with a big appetite for risk who know how much yield to demand to compensate them for these risks might see these “leveraged loans” as an opportunity. But the NY Fed found that these loans are increasingly issued in a loosey-goosey manner, with low underwriting standards. And issuance has soared.

In 2007, issuance of these “leveraged loans” peaked at $680 billion but then totally collapsed in 2008. Since 2009, according to NY Fed, “it has rebounded very quickly, and is now at record levels of volume, projected to be larger than $1 trillion in 2013.”

A dozen nearly new C-27J Spartans from Ohio and elsewhere have already been taken out of service and shipped to the so-called boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson. Five more are expected to be built by April 2014, all of which are headed to the boneyard unless another use for them is found.

The Air Force has spent $567 million on 21 C-27J aircraft since 2007, according to purchasing officials at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Sixteen had been delivered by the end of September.

The Air Force almost had to buy more of the planes against its will, the newspaper found. A solicitation issued from Wright-Patterson in May sought vendors to build more C-27Js, citing Congressional language requiring the military to spend money budgeted for the planes, despite Pentagon protests.

When asked by the public, the agency is notifying beneficiaries that “Unlike a federal shutdown which has no impact on the payment of Social Security benefits, failure to raise the debt ceiling puts Social Security benefits at risk,” according to a person familiar with the agency directive.

The warning was assembled after the agency consulted with the Treasury Department, which would play a lead role in determining how the government handles payments if the borrowing limit isn’t raised soon.

Its first role following WWII was the establishment of the German Army during the Korean War and joined NATO in 1955 soon after Stalin’s death and the armistice in the Korean War. The new army met widespread public protests of “Ohne Mich” (Without me) public sentiment. Opposition to the formation of Bundeswehr, a critical problem for a conscription army, was widespread; protestors disrupted swearing-in ceremonies and domestic terrorists attacked both the German and American military forces, especially during the Vietnam War. In the end, the argument that every country has an army, either its own or a foreign one was accepted.

Its second mission, at the end of the 1989 democratic revolution and the unification of Germany, the country had two armies, and General Joerg Schoenbohm was charged with forging a single Bundeswehr out of the existing West German Bundeswehr, and what once was the East-German National Volksarmee, while Chancellor Helmut Kohl and President George H W Bush negotiated with President Mikhail Gorbachev to allow the united Germany to remain in NATO.

Now in its Third incarnation, NATO and the German Army now must define a new common purpose to meet a challenging international environment: One that meets the US pivot to Asia to deal with the rise of China that has shifted the geopolitical role of the United States; the withdrawal of the US permanently stationed Forces in Europe, and the many 21st century borderless threats. These changes call for re-thinking the role the Bundeswehr plays in NATO.

But not even we thought that a banking sector "bail in", in which unsecured bank liabilities, which include bonds and of course deposits, are used as a matched source of extinguishment of non-performing bad debt "assets" could spread to the broader economy, and specifically to unencumbered private sector assets.

Alas, this is precisely what Greece, which is desperately trying to delay the inevitable and announce it needs not only a third but fourth bailout, appears keen on doing.

As Kathimerini reports, the Greek Labor and Social Insurance Ministry is "seriously considering drastic measures in order to obtain the social security contributions owed by enterprises and to avoid having to slash pensions and benefits." What drastic measures? "The ministry is planning to force companies to pay up or face having their assets seized, so that the 14 billion euros of contributions due can be recouped." After all, it's only "fair."

In the last week Germany’s president Joachim Gauck has called on the country to take more responsibility in the international arena and told the Germans: “Our country is not an island.” Meanwhile, troops have handed over a key base in Afghanistan as the country withdraws from a conflict which has already claimed 54 German lives.

This week both Syria and Iran have also looked to Germany to help solve their disputes with the West. But is it time for Germany to step up on the global stage? At an event at the US Embassy in Berlin on Monday The Local asked US author and foreign policy expert Professor Walter Russell Mead for his view.

On the subject of Europe and the Eurozone, Professor Mead, who now lectures at Bard College in New York State, urged Germany to lead a Holy Roman Empire rather than a Prussian conquest. “Any discussion of Germany’s world role must begin with Europe,” he told reporters. “The battle over the Euro is a really fundamental one. It looks to me that everyone is at fault – German banks, German regulators, and German politicians."

He added the country’s politicians were “terrified of admitting” the precarious financial position of German banks which had lost billions in loans and investments to southern Europe. “Germany has been squeezing southern Europe not to punish vice but to protect vice,” he said. Meanwhile, he described the north-versus-south Europe debate as a struggle between “two sinners in a dispute about who is the saint.”

But will debt-ridden countries like Italy have to adopt German austerity for the Eurozone to survive. Professor Mead called for Germany to lead a Holy Roman Empire in Europe – a loose federation of states - instead of aggressively imposing austerity. “Europe is hard to lead. It is resistant to leadership,” he said. “It has so many different priorities."

"Are you going to have a King of Prussia or the Holy Roman Emperor? The Holy Roman Emperor is the more sustainable. It is the least work of the two”.

On the occasion of this year's national holiday, last week, German President Joachim Gauck claimed that more and more "voices" in Germany and abroad are demanding that his country should play "a stronger role in Europe and the world." Germany is "not an island" and should not "belittle" itself in the future, after all, it is the "fourth largest economic power in the world."

As his source of inspiration, he also named the Polish foreign minister, who had called for "German leadership" already in late 2011, and a prominent transatlantic publicist, who had recently called on Berlin to act "more resolutely" in the EU following the elections. Gauck's offensive had been carefully prepared in the foreign policy establishment. Whereas sectors of the elite in other EU countries condone German "leadership," large majorities of the populations in the southern EU countries are criticizing German predominance.

The intra-European power struggles are continuing. Already a few months ago, Luxemburg's Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker had warned that he can see similarities to the period leading up to World War I.

Since 2006, we had identified the period 2011-2013 as that during which the “Dollar Wall” on which the power of the United States sits would fall apart. Summer 2011, with the cut in the United States’ credit rating by S&P, marked an historic turning point and confirmed that the “impossible” was indeed in the process of coming true. Therefore today, it seems essential to provide our subscribers with a clear anticipatory vision of what awaits the “pillar” of the world before the crisis at the point when the crisis moved into “top gear” in summer 2011.

Thus, according to LEAP/E2020, the 2012 election year, which opens against the backdrop of economic and social depression, complete paralysis of the federal system, strong rejection of the traditional two-party system and a growing questioning of the relevance of the Constitution, inaugurates a crucial period in the history of the United States. Over the next four years, the country will be subjected to political, economic, financial and social upheaval such as it has not known since the end of the Civil War which, by an accident of history, started exactly 150 years ago in 1861.

During this period, the US will be simultaneously insolvent and ungovernable, turning that which was the “flagship” of the world in recent decades into a “drunken boat”.

But just to make sure Washington gets the message, the IMF’s top economist Olivier Blanchard, kicked off his press briefing on the World Economic Outlook with another alert. The topic’s likely to be the central focus this week as finance ministers and central bankers meet in the capital this week.

While the fund says a government shutdown is likely to have a limited impact on the US economy, but “failure to lift the debt ceiling, would, however, be a major event,” Mr Blanchard said. “A prolonged failure would lead to an extreme fiscal consolidation and almost surely derail the US recovery,” he said.

That would have immediate impacts, with major disruptions in financial markets, both in the US and abroad.

According to an op-ed in Forbes, that’s enough to sustain an Iraq-sized war for over twenty years. DHS has also acquired heavily armored tanks, which have been seen roaming the streets. Evidently somebody in government is expecting some serious civil unrest. The question is, why?

Recently revealed statements by former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown at the height of the banking crisis in October 2008 could give some insights into that question. An article on BBC News on September 21, 2013, drew from an explosive autobiography called Power Trip by Brown’s spin doctor Damian McBride, who said the prime minister was worried that law and order could collapse during the financial crisis.

Fear of this threat was echoed in September 2008 by US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, who reportedly warned that the US government might have to resort to martial law if Wall Street were not bailed out from the credit collapse.

In both countries, martial law was avoided when their legislatures succumbed to pressure and bailed out the banks. But many pundits are saying that another collapse is imminent; and this time, governments may not be so willing to step up to the plate.

But don’t just take my word for it. These are the things that top financial experts all over the planet are saying will happen if there is an extended US debt default.

#1 Gerald Epstein, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst: “If the US does default, that will make the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy look like a cakewalk.”

#2 Tim Bitsberger, a former Treasury official under President George W Bush: “If we miss an interest payment, that would blow Lehman out of the water.”

#3 Peter Tchir, founder of New York-based TF Market Advisors: “Once the system starts to break down related to settlement and payments, then liquidity disappears, as we saw after Lehman.”

#4 Bill Isaac, chairman of Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bancorp: “We can’t even imagine all the things that might happen, just like Henry Paulson couldn’t imagine all the bad things that might happen if he let Lehman go down.”

#5 Jim Grant, founder of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer: “Financial markets are all confidence-based. If that confidence is shaken, you have disaster.”

#6 Richard Bove, VP of research at Rafferty Capital Markets: “If they seriously default on the debt, what we’re really talking about is a depression.”

#7 Chinese vice finance minister Zhu Guangyao: “The US is clearly aware of China’s concerns about the financial stalemate [in Washington] and China’s request for the US to ensure the safety of Chinese investments.”

#8 The US Treasury Department: “A default would be unprecedented and has the potential to be catastrophic: credit markets could freeze, the value of the dollar could plummet, US interest rates could skyrocket, the negative spillovers could reverberate around the world, and there might be a financial crisis and recession that could echo the events of 2008 or worse.”

#9 Goldman Sachs: “We estimate that the fiscal pull-back would amount to 9 percent of GDP. If this were allowed to occur, it could lead to a rapid downturn in economic activity if not reversed quickly.”

#10 Simon Johnson, former chief economist for the IMF: “It would be insane to default, but it’s no longer a zero-percent probability.”

#11 Warren Buffett about the potential of a debt default: “It should be like nuclear bombs, basically too horrible to use.”

#12 Bloomberg: “Anyone who remembers the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc little more than five years ago knows what a global financial disaster is. A US government default, just weeks away if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling as it now threatens to do, will be an economic calamity like none the world has ever seen.”

Recipients since 1998 include the traitor George Blake, extremist cleric Abu Qatada and the IRA killer dubbed Mrs Doubtfire. The House of Commons figures fuelled fresh demands for Britain to pull out of the convention on which the European Court of Human Rights bases its rulings.

Because they are political appointees many of the court’s judges are not even legal experts.

Gibraltar has called on the United States to use its diplomatic heft to help end a bitter dispute over its sovereignty, accusing Spain of "bullying" the tiny British territory amid a flare-up of tensions. "The United States must stand for the right of people to determine their own future," Fabian Picardo, Gibraltar's head of government, said.

"I don't think there's anything in the American psyche that says that individuals like me and the Falkland islanders and the Gibraltarians should be told under whose sovereignty they will come."

Picardo is on a charm offensive – his fourth trip to the United States this year – in a bid to win international backing for Gibraltar and Britain in a festering diplomatic row with Spain.

The territory of 30,000 people perched on the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula bordering Spain this year marks the 300th anniversary of the Treaty of Utrecht which ceded its control to Britain.

Just how much is that worth? Almost $93 billion each year, according to a first-of-its-kind study for Texas conducted by Texas A&M Forest Service.

The five core ecosystem services and their annual, statewide values are listed below.

• Climate Regulation, $4.2 billion/year

Affect forests have on regional and local climates by absorbing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide - a greenhouse gas.

• Watershed Regulation, $13.2 billion/year

Ability of the forests to provide a continuous, stable supply of clean drinking water through various hydrological processes (aquifer recharge, purification, flood and storm protection, etc).

• Biodiversity Services, $14.8 billion/year

Capacity forests have to promote essential biological diversity and provide sustainable habitats for plants and animals.

• Cultural Services, $60.4 billion/year

Non-material benefits (spiritual enrichment, cognitive development, reflection and aesthetic experience) obtained from forest ecosystems.

• Air Quality Services, $190.3 million/year

Ability of forests to remove particulates and other pollutants from the air.

The online version of the study — found at TexasForestInfo.com — allows residents to see the ecosystem values for their specific location.