DYHALTO'S PROFILE

balance the budget

This is not what we need. America (the entire world, really) is in a recession. You could call it a depression, depending on your definition.
To get out of a depressed economy, you spend money and get things moving again. In today's situation, the problem is not that money is being borrowed/printed (same thing), but that it's being given to people who use it to speculate in stock/commodity markets. Current economic policy is to throw good money after bad, and even children know where that leads.
Besides. There are zero historical examples of austerity (budget balancing) leading to growth.

fiscal cliff

Don't let this term fool you. It's just the scary catchphrase du jour to help politicos advance their policies/bills. When the time comes, and we "fall off" down to where its all going down, there will still be lots of time to straighten out the US budget before we go hyperinflation/deflationary-crash.

author=KingArthur
I realize the post I'm replying to is quite a ways back now, but I just want to address it to make it clear that the blame for the downgrade of US bonds lies completely and entirely on the United States Congress for becoming grid-locked and disagreeing to the point of complete paralysis and irrelevance, not President Obama or the White House.

This post is old too, but I just want to mention that if a real President called S&P and said "The FBI is on their way to raid your offices and seize all of your accounting data. I'm starting an investigation into why mortgage backed securities went from AAA to junk pre-2008 crisis, and are back at AAA again", the US debt rating would return to AAA before the phonecall ends.
The ratings agencies are heavily influenced by money and politics. Their days of honest-to-goodness ratings are long, long gone.
US Treasuries, no matter what happens, will always pay out. So no, Congress' dithering had little to do with it. It makes a good cover story, though.

Guys, you might as well debate the merits and possibilities of Jefferson vs Adams.
Romney lost, and will be relegated to a brief mention in the history books along with Dole and Kerry. This is a pointless discussion, and you seem to be wearing down each other's nerves.

Besides. You're both right.
The Republican party, no matter their past accomplishments or positive "family" morals, these days put on the airs of the party of rich, racist white men who yearn for "the good ol' days" which never really existed. Meanwhile, the Democrats buy their votes with free shit for everybody. Their only saving grace is they're not Republican.
That's why I anticipate the formation of a genuine new party. One which capitalizes on economic populism.

And no, it won't be the Libertarians. They're just a group of closet fascists without the neo-nazi overtone.

Given the casual pace the player explores it, it doesn't feel that big at all. The town-to-dungeon treks are just right, and there aren't many "where was it, again?" moments.