That last photo is probably the most pertinent in terms of us manufacturing with unpaid prison labour allowing many us corps to remain competitive against the likes of China India etc.

Well, the US has been decreasing the threshold for criminal behavior and opening up more and more prisons for many years now.

What the logical conclusion to this policy might be is the big question. I mean, the US is probably the biggest trumpeter of "Democracy" and "Freedom" since the days of ancient Athens. But only a privileged few were members of the Greek Demos and the Athenian economy was almost wholly based on slave labour. You say prisoners, I say slaves ... ?

To answer the original question, no.

In answer to the original question we must hope not. If they are then they would lurch towards right-wing nationalism. The effects of that would be chilling both economically and in a security sense. China as the US' prime creditor would be destabilised economically and no doubt tensions between the US and China would rise to a catastrophic level.

If we are talking about an individual or a business to the same the level, relatively speaking, I think the answer is unquestionably yes. And for some considerable time.

Right now it looks like the only two things keeping it afloat are the Federal Reserve's printing presses (which are simply exacerbating the problem) and confidence. The entire world's attitude seems to be to hope US (and European) debt will go away magically (which is simply exacerbating the problem). It's like the standoff at the end of a Sergio Leone movie where everyone is eyeing each other - but instead of waiting for a pistol to be drawn it is the first - catastrophic - sign that someone is dumping the dollar. Fast.

And when it goes ...