March 12, 2025

Ridgecrest, California

Some of us have been pounding the table warning about our debt-based monetary system and government deficit spending for at least 40 years, ever since the National Debt reached a trillion dollars around 1982. Today, the U.S. National Debt Clock is pushing $37 trillion dollars.

We are fast approaching the point where we can’t afford to pay the interest on the $37 trillion national debt because the United States can’t sell enough of it. While watching history in the making, it’s wise to remember that history repeats.

Ray Dalio is the founder of Bridgewater, the world’s largest hedge fund. He spoke on CNBC today warning of an “imminent” supply and demand imbalance in U.S. Treasuries. There’s too much debt and the world won’t buy it. “You’re going to see shocking developments” says Dalio, including restructuring, monetization or exerting pressure on other countries to buy our debt.

Dalio didn’t say it, but this looks like a Minsky Moment. It hasn’t happened in our lifetimes. It’s a soverign debt crisis and it’s unavoidable. Asset prices including stocks and real estate, haven’t collapsed. Yet.

The importance of the work done by 4,260 DOD civilians working for the Navy in Ridgecrest, California, can’t be overstated. How will potential cutbacks in defense spending impact a city with a population of only 28,000 when nearly 4,500 of them are employees of the Department of Defense?

Perhaps the better question is how can government spending be brought down far enough to avert a financial calamity and a debt default?

Ridgecrest’s Mayor Travis Endicott, himself a DOD employee with a family, said during the March 5th City Council meeting “this is a terrifying time for individuals on the base” adding “I’m worried about the continual denigration of our federal workforce”. He went on to say that most of the “hate and anger and the fear of what government employees do was probably generally targeted at the DC area”.

Councilman Skip Gorman, himself a retired China Laker, followed by drawing an analogy from the highlight scene in the movie “The Right Stuff” when Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier for the first time in aviation history. As he approached Mach 1, Yeager’s X-1 Bell aircraft began shaking violently, then became uneventfully smooth as he blasted through the barrier at 700 miles per hour.

“Yeager was filled with uncertainty and fear, and almost magically, as he transitioned into the speed of sound, everything smoothed out again” said Gorman. Mayor Endicott responded “we just haven’t hit the speed of sound yet, is that what you’re saying?”

“We’re going through a transition that’s painful” said Gorman.

From 1945 to 1960, the Air Force at Edwards Air Force Base and the Navy at China Lake worked simultaneously in California’s Mojave Desert to develop and test aircraft needed to break the speed of sound and support the fleet. Today, we’re entering an era of unmanned aerial vehicles and the end of an era of very large aircraft carriers.

China Lake and Edwards have the right stuff, and will maintain their preeminent position in our national defense establishment.

Restructuring the federal government and balancing the budget is a matter of national survival. Eliminating waste, fraud, abuse and corruption is necessary.

It’s mathematically inevitable that the Minsky Moment would come, and as Councilman Gorman correctly stated, it will be painful. It’s going to be terrifying for all of us, including for China Lake’s civilian workforce.

References and Credits:

National Air and Space Museum: https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/breaking-sound-barrier-75th

Steve Bannon comments on Ray Dalio via The War Room: https://americasvoice.news/video/8af2esJL4ENh4FF