Economic Armageddon? How soon ...

SEE HERE It is sobering that the U.S. debt now exceeds the size of the U.S. economy.  This is starting to put us in the range of Italy and Greece except we are much larger and the bigger they are, as my mother used to say, the harder they fall.  Yesterdays 389 point plunge in the DOW points to the shaky territory we are on.  It's hard to know what counsel if any to offer.  What do you do when the world is falling apart?