The basic level of comprehension and attention of the general public as mirrored by the established media is at the 'comic book' level of reality....you need a 'crisis with a name' or no one will pay attention; it is on the level of war propaganda...we had 'Chemical Ali' as the villain last war, great comic book name. We have POTUS as the 'masiah' who will save the people, lead them to socialist equity, 'hero of the stupid!'...of course we need Fical Cliffs, Debt Crises and other identifiable calamities for our heros and villains to address so that we can stay awake. Its the only way you can get the multitude, mired in the tranqualized obviousness of flat earth sensibilities, to pay attention to the story. You need it for ratings.
Dosen't anyone know that we have really been wandering in a fiscal desert for six years now, following our true leader, 'Helicopter Ben,' master of money illusion but otherwise following his own hallucinations (an uneasy tortured imperfect hero who is misunderstood, a misfit from a small Southern town, now living in a hostile Norhern world, having long forgot the simple but real comfort of shrimp and grits), but there are no real cliffs...this is the bottom, with bumps and ditches. We are just too stupid and dehydrated to climb out; we have fallen down and we can't get up.