First, the legalized gangsters in the nation's toilet raised the debt ceiling at the 11th hour so that the US government can borrow more and spend more, in spite of the looming budget carnage. Then they partied down into the wee hours of New Year's Eve and agreed to further fleece our most productive people in order to keep the spend-a-thon sustained. New Year's Eve was a convenient time for such fiscal buffoonery considering that the markets are closed until Wednesday. Still, with government spending zooming upward and spiraling out of control, the government is on track to exceed its borrowing limits, again, and within a month or two. Yet another cliff is ahead, and there will be yet another scheme concocted to avoid the cliff and ensuing economic collapse.