If the Chinese stopped buying our worthless debt, which will never be repaid, they would suffer in the short term and be much better off in the medium and long term. The Chinese would consume more of what they produce instead of sending their products to America, a country that exports only paper back to China instead of real products. The Yuan would rise greatly in value and Chinese people would see their cost of living fall and would be able to consume a lot more of what they make.

My suspicion is that this gun talk will quiet down in another month or so, maybe an assault weapons ban is passed and then things will be back to normal. I wouldn't be surprised to see a story about a year from now about some kid who gets arrested and was planning on replicating an incident like Sandy Hook with his parents guns. Then the calls for more gun bans will come about from useful idiots.

With regard to the Fiscal cliff, what are they talking about? Cutting $1.2 trillion over ten years? That's our current budget deficit. So, basically, their plan is to run a deficit only nine out of ten years. Remember that our on book debt is currently $16.4 trillion and for every 1% that's added to the interest on our national debt costs the US $164 billion. Don't forget about the $122 trillion in unfunded liabilities. America will default by declaration or through issuing worthless money (Bernanke is already monetizing a little over $1 trillion a year with his QE program). It is a mathematical certainty. America just won't suffer any consequences until the rest of the world learns how to do some basic math and figures out the US isn't ever going to repay them. Got precious metals and other shit to barter with?