For the most part I agree, but 'cept for "The winner will be faced with a time period during which Americans still have not admitted publicly that we cannot continue to live at the standard that we think is uniquely ours."

That will be a self-imposed restriction. If we were to dismantle our overseas military empire and stop all foreign aid there would be a couple of billion dollars a year that would be left in the economy in a perfect world, but at least spent here on stuff we need. We still have one the most if not the most productive economies in the world when it's not having almost half its life blood sucked out by DC. Of course, neither of them is going to address that in any way whatsoever, so, you're right. We're pretty much fucked.