Untended, this pattern will repeat...

From mine of 3 December 2011:

Graph #1: The Interest Rate (black) and Debt-per-Dollar

1921: After a long increase, the interest rate peaks and begins a long decline.

A decade or so later, Depression. The Debt-per-Dollar ratio peaks and begins a long decline.

A dozen years or so later, interest rates and the DPD both reach a bottom and begin another long increase.

1982: The interest rate peaks again, and begins another long decline.

26 years later, the debt-per-dollar ratio peaks again. Again Depression, and another long decline.

Untended, this pattern will repeat until it destroys the political entity responsible for the US Dollar.