My roommate and I started playing the Apocalypse Game this past summer during the congressional standoff over the debt ceiling. I had driven her to the mall that Sunday afternoon to purchase a new camera for an upcoming trip, and she took me out for Chinese food as a thank you. I remember these details, because what ensued was a conversation on the crisis, which was just beginning to seep into the mainstream media, an explanation of the role and history of the debt ceiling, and a conversation about the role of the Chinese as creditors—which I later felt awkward about since we were the only patrons in the restaurant and I was sure the waitstaff was listening and thinking I was doing a poor job of summarizing the comparisons between the Chinese and American economies; this is the kind of thing I worry about when I speak in public. At the end of my explanation of the possible outcomes of United States default, stock market free falls, and the end of Western civilization, we paused, silent, chewing our scallion pancakes thoughtfully, then mutually agreed, only somewhat facetiously, that it would be a good idea to have a plan. Read the rest of this entry →