Sex, violence and economics are in today’s column. Let’s begin by mangling the quote of our old friend Fred Nietzsche: “If you gaze into the debt default, the default gazes back at you.”

Fred was a cheery, upbeat kind of guy, life of the party, always looking on the sunny side of the street. When he wrote his original version about staring into the abyss, he was just having a bad day. The U.S. economy is currently staring into the abyss of defaulting on its debt. This is the national equivalent of someone deciding not to pay their accrued Mastercard bill to see what happens next.

Today’s blot on world literature will poke around about what may happen next if the U.S. defaults on its debt. Bored already because economics are boring? Stick around, we are going to introduce Cassandra of Greek mythology. Plenty of sex, violence and soothsaying will ensue.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says the U.S. is going to run out of cash in early June. The Republicans are holding the debt limit hostage to cutting the next budget. President Biden is holding out for a clean bill raising the debt limit so we can pay the national Mastercard bill. What could go wrong?

Here is what Secretary Yellen said could go wrong if the U.S. doesn’t make the payments on its $31.4 trillion Mastercard bill. She says we will get to enjoy an “economic calamity.” The U.S. will default on its Treasury bill payments, Social Security benefits, Medicare, VA benefits and other bills which the U.S. previously paid during its entire existence.

The parade of horribles includes a stock market crash, loss of millions of jobs, another Great Recession, and possible return of disco music. The Republican House of Representatives doesn’t believe in economic gravity and refuses to increase the debt limit without major cuts to next year’s budget. As Sir Isaac Newton pointed out “Gravity is not just a good idea, it’s the law.”

Janet Yellen reminds me of Cassandra of Greek mythology. Cassandra could accurately predict the future but was cursed that no one would believe her. Here comes the sex and violence previously promised. Not bad for a column about economics if I do say so.

Cassandra was the human daughter of the King and Queen of Troy. She was pretty as a picture. She caught the eye of the Greek god Apollo. Apollo wanted Cassandra to be his honey-bunny. As a present to lure her to be his Baby Mamma, Apollo gave her the ability to foretell the future. In return, she agreed to hook up with Apollo. Once she got the gift of prophecy from him, she changed her mind. This did not sit well with Apollo. There are no take backs on a gift from the gods, so he couldn’t cancel her ability to tell the future. However, he could and did add a poison pill to Cassandra’s fortune telling ability. He put a curse on her that no one would believe her prophecies even though they would all come true. Double Yikes.

Cassandra predicted all manner of things that came true which no one believed. She told Paris not to kidnap Helen of Troy. She told the Trojans not to bring the giant horse into Troy. She knew that the Greek’s famous Trojan horse was actually packed with Greek warriors. Cassandra ran with an ax and a torch to set fire to the Trojan horse, but the Trojans stopped her. She foresaw the murder of Agamemnon and her own murder.

After Troy fell, Ajax the Lesser (a Greek warrior who undoubtably had issues due to his nickname) came after Cassandra who was hiding in the temple of Athena. Ajax dragged her away from Athena’s statue knocking it down in the process. Ajax beat and raped Cassandra in the temple. Athena was not happy about Ajax defiling her temple and Cassandra who had sought refuge there. Ajax high tailed it out of Troy on a ship. Athena chunked a bolt of lighting destroying the ship. Ajax swam to a big rock believing he was safe. Then Poseidon, King of the Sea, destroyed the rock with his magic trident sending Ajax to a watery death in Davy Jones’ Locker.

Meanwhile, the Greek King Agamemnon took Cassandra as his mistress. In response, Aggy’s wife Clytemnestra took Aegisthus as her own lover. Cassandra had two children by Aggy. Aggy’s wife and lover then murdered Aggy, Cassandra, and their two kids. It was murders most foul.

Let us hope Janet Yellen is not a modern Cassandra, foreseeing an ugly financial future that no one believes. This column will come the last week of May. We will know quite soon if Ms. Yellen has repeated Cassandra’s ability to foretell a future that no one believes. Buckle your seat belts, it’s gonna be a bumpy flight.