August 2nd, 2011 will dawn like any other day. Some places will have sunshine, some places clouds, some places will be warm, some will be hot. People will shamble and shuffle through the hours, taking care of children, going to work, shopping for groceries, reading blogs, watching the news, and all the other things that mark a day passed in the life of a human being in the United States of America. Nothing truly shocking will happen... on the surface.
Yet, like an iceberg, most of what happens to our nation happens out of sight, a mass of motions, bargains, and deals that we do not see, nor do we have an inkling about. They happen on floors crowded with cubicles, in rooms with long tables and leather chairs, and corner offices, and back rooms, through teleconferences, emails, furtive phone calls, and quiet handshakes. And on that August day, a decision, really many decisions that rolled up into a singular one, will potentially cause the erosion of our nation's power and prestige, not to mention imperil an economy which, while on the mend, is nowhere near ready to move out of intensive care.
August 2nd, 2011, is the day the money runs out.