The Great Depression: The Advanta House of Cards Collapses

Are you feeling depressed? Well, you should. That's why it's called The Great Depression.

What happened in the 1930's is repeating itself today in a virtually identical pattern. The names have changed and certain new industries have replaced the institution of the 1920's and 1930's, but the chain of events remains unbroken.

Students of The (first) Great Depression know that the Stock Market Crash neither caused nor even marked the beginning of the depression. It was more of an early warning system. In fact, many people in late 1929 and 1930 felt we had weathered the storm of the stock market collapse and were on the way to recovery. Sadly, they were wrong.

The cascade of business and institutional collapses and, especially the banking collapse happened slowly and over time. The worst of the crisis didn't hit until 1932. And then, as today, our government did virtually everything wrong.

Actually, today the actions of our government are much worse. We may well be looking down the barrel of a loaded gun that will actually destroy our country. We have the absolutely wrong leadership team in Washington. They do not see or understand the crisis that grips our country. Our leaders are literally fiddling while Rome burns.

I am especially distressed that, in spite of the daily warning bells, President Obama seems oblivious to the crisis at hand. But, as a friend mentioned to me earlier today, that might just be for the best. He would certainly prescribe the wrong medicine.

Today might just be the beginning of the final collapse. Yesterday Advanta Bank abruptly cancelled over one million business credit cards that have virtually kept small business in America afloat. With average credit limits of $25,000.00 to $40,000.00 these cards have been a lifeline as bank loans dried up and other credit card companies, like American Express, reduced lines and limits.

Unless you work with small businesses like I do, you cannot imagine the disaster happening today. Literally one million businesses are scrambling to replace a credit card in an economy where no new credit cards are being issued.

You can look for business payroll defaults as early as next week. You can look for layoffs as early as today. You can look for bankruptcies and store closures in the next few months.

Add this to the bankruptcies of Chrysler and General Motors, the bizarre closing of over 1,000 automobile dealerships and the general layoffs at factories and white collar businesses around the nation and you will soon see the death of many small towns. It is literally a house of cards. And the first card to fall was Advanta's.

If.... if..... if..... If only we had a real stimulus package instead of the pinata of death designed by Nancy Pelosi and the clueless Democrats in Congress. Dammit America. You should never let people who have done a day's work, managed a business, made a payroll, or worked and studied in economics design a "stimulus package."

You will note from the government's own website that, 120 days later, almost no money has made it into the economy. As of 20 minutes ago the government has somehow managed to spend a whopping $31.1 billion dollars out of the$ 787 billion dollars in the stimulus package!!

Watch the House of Cards Fall:

Advanta Closes One Million Credit Card Accounts

Feel the pain in real time: The Twitter Advanta Feed

Ask The Consumerists: Small Business Credit Cards

Advanta Freezing All Credit Card Accounts

NPR: The End of Advanta

Looking the Other Way

President Barack Obama has an impressive and important agenda. And he has the ability to multitask, delegate and manage a complex process of proposals with apparent ease and competency. I am both impressed and pleased.

In addition, let me mention that I strongly approve of his foreign policy agenda and his first contacts with leaders on the world stage. President Obama is living up to our highest expectations. American is both better liked and more respected under President Obama.

I know many Republicans are busy picking nits. And I know many of my conservative readers disagree. I appreciate both their genuine beliefs and the role of the "loyal opposition."

Finally, I recognize that the major media, the press, is not doing their job and their very unhealthy love affair with the President continues. This romance does not serve our nation well. We need it to be over. Now.

And here's why. Flying beneath the radar is a deficit and spending/borrowing program that runs the risk of destroying President Obama's administration. Tragically, even if Obama somehow survives, the country will be left in ruins.

I've listened to all the Obama administration spokespersons and the left wing talking heads and I've read many of the important left wing blogs, so I know all the official explanations. I also recognize that at least 50% of the apologists don't believe a single word they are saying. Under the cloak of false confidence, they are secretly praying that somehow Obama can pull it off.

He can't.

Meanwhile I know that Republicans are attacking the deficit because they think it's their job. However, since Republicans have little to no credibility on deficit spending, no one is paying any attention.

As a result a time bomb that will have the power of 100 atomic explosions remains ticking beneath the surface. It will explode unless credible economists and Democrat leaders wake up and immediately sound the alarm. We cannot support this level of debt. It is economically not possible.

By the end of Obama's first term we run the risk of both interest rates and unemployment exploding to double digits. I want to emphasize again that President Obama's Stimulus Package (actually it is Nancy Pelosi's Stimulus Package) will not work. It's not that I don't want it to work. I do. It just won't. It was nothing more than a badly conceived waste of taxpayer's money.

Meanwhile here is the news, White House Boosts Deficit Projections:

WASHINGTON -- The federal budget deficit will widen to a record $1.841 trillion this fiscal year, $89 billion wider than previously expected, because of the weak economy and expensive financial rescue, the White House said Monday. The Obama administration expects the deficit to be $1.258 trillion in fiscal 2010, which begins in October. In its February budget overview, the White House predicted a $1.752 trillion budget gap in 2009 and a $1.171 trillion deficit next year. Changes in a host of tax and spending projections are propelling the deficit higher in the near term, primarily the result of the continued woes of the U.S. economy. "The change in the deficit estimates reflects upward technical revisions in light of new information regarding the collection of receipts, financial stabilization efforts, and other federal programs," Mr. Orszag said in a blog posting. OMB now expects total government receipts to decline nearly 15%, or $368 billion, this year. As a percentage of gross domestic product, receipts are seen sinking to their lowest level since 1950, 15.1%. Since February, the estimate for this year's corporate tax receipts has fallen $18 billion, while projected individual tax revenue has declined $5 billion. The deficit is now expected to reach 12.9% of GDP this year -- a level not seen since World War II. Over the next decade, the White House expects accumulated deficits of $7.1 trillion. The White House still says it can halve the deficit by the end of President Barack Obama's four-year term. Yet the new figures are likely to trigger more Republican criticism that the administration isn't doing enough to tackle runaway government spending. While the White House has updated its top-line deficit figures, it hasn't changed the economic assumptions that underpin the budget, which are based on information available at the end of January. The economy appears to have worsened since then, potentially foreshadowing even wider deficits. The administration's forecast calls for a recovery to begin by the end of this year and gain momentum in 2010. Specifically, the White House expects the economy to contract 1.2% this year before rebounding and growing 3.2% in 2010 and 4% in 2011. After miserable first-quarter growth data, the White House's figures look even more optimistic now than they did in February. The White House expects the unemployment rate to average 8.1% this year. Last month, though, the rate surged to 8.9%, the highest level since 1983.

In summary, we must all stop looking the other way. The deficit is the 800 pound gorilla in the room. It will destroy us all.

We can only accomplish President Obama's important agenda with a realistic outlook and with common sense spending and control of the deficits. We must begin today.

Barack Obama's Small Business Initiative

I've been rather tough on Barack Obama's economic plans and programs and with good cause. Obama allowed Nancy Pelosi oversee the creation of Frankenstein's Stimulus Monster, an unworkable combination of hands and feet and legs and ears that can only slither off to die the death it so richly deserves. It's just a damned shame we had to pay eight hundred billion dollars for this monster.

But today Barack Obama announced an excellent group of programs and policies that stand a good chance of building a solid base for future economic growth. Obama's Small Business Initiatives will help provide much needed credit for small businesses and provide change the tax laws to help businesses survive the recession/depression. It's no substitute for the stimulus package we still need, but it will save a significant number of jobs and might actually create a few new ones.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama freed billions of dollars to help the nation's small businesses on Monday, hoping to get credit flowing again to Main Street, not just Wall Street. He heaped praise on the little guys of American industry, often overshadowed in the blitz of government bailouts. The centerpiece of Obama's latest plan will allow the government to spend up to $15 billion to buy the small-business loans that are now choking community banks and lenders. That, in turn, could allow those banks to start lending money again to small companies to invest, pay bills and stay afloat. "You deserve a chance. America needs you to have a chance," Obama said in an appeal to all those who run small businesses or hope to one day. Obama's effort was, at one level, fundamental to helping the economy rebound. Small businesses have created about 70 percent of the new jobs over the past decade, and as their credit lines have dried up, so has their ability to thrive or survive.

Barack Obama has really had a tough start to his presidency. Fortunately the press either hasn't noticed many of the real problems and issues or has purposely chosen to ignore them. And you've got to give credit to the highly coordinated Democrat Demolition Squad that has kept at least the Obama supporters clearly focused on nonsensical non-issues like Rush Limbaugh, James Cramer and Glenn Beck. What a joke. Any Democrat or liberal who has fallen for this misdirection ploy should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.

But Barack Obama is genuinely a very smart guy. He is a quick study and he hasn't been "misdirected." While Carvell and company kept the adoring masses entertained, Obama has worked to strengthen his economic proposals and programs. His economic team is still woefully understaffed and Secretary Geithner is still in deep trouble, but each day shows signs of improvement.

Communist China Knows Tax Cuts Work

If the Communist Chinese know that TAX BREAKS will INSTANTLY stimulate their economy, why can't President Obama figure it out?

HINT: The Chinese didn't have Nancy Pelosi write their stimulus bill.

From BLOOMBERG: China February Auto Sales Rise 25% After Tax Cuts

March 10 (Bloomberg) -- China vehicle sales surged 25 percent in February, the first gain in four months, after the government cut taxes on some models, helping the country extend its lead as the world’s largest auto market this year. Sales of passenger cars, buses and trucks climbed to 827,600, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said today in Beijing. The tally in the first two months rose 2.7 percent to 1.56 million, compared with a 39 percent decline to 1.35 million in the U.S. China has halved retail taxes on small cars and drawn up plans to give out vehicle subsidies in rural areas to revive demand after auto sales rose at the slowest pace in a decade last year. Combined with the country’s wider 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) economic stimulus package, the policies have caused General Motors Corp. to roughly double its forecast for China’s nationwide auto market growth this year. “Consumers are regaining confidence because of the government’s stimulus policies,” said Ricon Xia, an analyst at Daiwa Research Institute in Shanghai.

The French Revolution

As I watch television this weekend and watch the protesters in New York DEMAND that the governor "tax the rich" instead of cutting services, I feel like I'm watching the French Revolution unfold before my very eyes.

Class warfare was at the very heart of the French Revolution! In 1789 and for ten horrific years, the country of France imploded. Millions of people died. The government was overthrown and virtually the entire upper class of French society was executed, including King Louis XVI and the legendary Marie-Antoinette. It's the stuff of legend, including many great (if highly romanticized) movies.

While I don't think for even one second our country runs the risk of revolution, many of the factors that led up to the French Revolution are identical to the situation in the United States today.

Economists tell us that recessions and depressions are cyclical. In the late 1780's France was in the midst of a major depression. But here is where the parallels get much more interesting. France was saddled with a massive National Debt. Fighting two wars had caused King Louis XV to borrow huge sums of money. Keep on mind one of those wars was the American Revolution. France had sided with and aided the colonists against England.

But the huge National Debt was way too much for the government to handle. Faced with this crushing debt, the government instituted massive tax increases on every part of society, including and especially the rich. The gigantic tax burden brought the French economy to a complete standstill. The very financial backbone of the country was broken in a manner not unlike today's banking crisis! The movement of goods and services came to a halt!

Unemployment exploded! People were unable to find work. The French monetary system stopped working and massive inflation robbed the poor from even the most basic necessities. People literally people could not afford bread.

Meanwhile King Louis and his advisers were unable to cope with the rapidly deterioration of the country's economy. Ultimately the entire country collapsed under the weight of an unrepayable National Debt.

The people of France blamed the rich! They felt, however incorrectly, that the rich were causing the problems as a ruse just to rob the poor and enslave them. This was, of course, untrue and the rich, the aristocracy, were also suffering from the complete breakdown of society. None-the less, massive protests occurred that deteriorated into riots and, ultimately, into revolution.

The goals of the revolution were noble, at least in theory. Liberty, Equality and Fraternity! The rich were forced to pay the ultimate price with the invention of the guillotine.

George Mason University has built a magnificent on-line library and resource center to study the French Revolution with hundreds of essays, text documents, images and even songs. I continue to be amazed with the sheer power of the Internet.

In another interesting parallel, it was King Louis XIV who began a centralization of power that led to the very downfall of France. Prior to that, France was a very model of decentralized capitalism. Only when Louis XIV centralized power to the Monarchy was it even possible to build the huge National debt that led the country to its downfall. But Louis XIV and Louis VX felt the government could run society better than the free market!

The sections of the George Mason University Website that discuss the monarchy are especially interesting.

Other eighteenth-century descriptions of monarchy advocated centralizing power in the hands of the King. When the Franks first decided to establish their own government to replace the fading Roman Empire, argued Jacob-Nicolas Moreau, they entrusted the King with all authority. To spread ideas such as Moreau's, French monarchs published newspapers supporting their actions. In one such periodical, the Gazette of France, the crown took a subtle rather than a propagandistic approach: it never mentioned its opponents and treated royalty with total reverence—even though the news being reported was not necessarily the most important events of the day.

Can anybody say "Rush Limbaugh?" But I digress.

The conflicts of 1787 to 1789 over the monarchy's financial problems led to a major shift in the way France was governed. In part because of the long drawn-out wars of the eighteenth century, the French government had for some time been spending much more than its annual revenue. Usually this money was borrowed. However, for reasons that historians still argue about, this source of funds dried up in the 1780s. Mounting debt and a continuing high level of expenses then forced the monarchy to seek fundamental financial change to put the state on a secure fiscal foundation.

Like Louis XVI, our President is failing to focus on the rapid deterioration of the economy or on the National debt. Instead, like the French monarchy, he is centralizing authority and control of society. We defend Obama because he wants to help the poor and improve their life. But, keep in mind, so did King Louis the XVI.

As the economy falters, President Obama is determined to implement a wide array of social programs and isn't letting the economic situation distract him from his predetermined agenda.

Don't think for even a minute that the United States can't fail under the weight of massive national debt. It can, and if the problem isn't addressed quickly, it will.

Again, revolution isn't going to happen, but a peaceful mini-revolt in Congress and on Wall Street is well underway. While Obama has failed to notice the revolt so far, it will soon slam him into with the force of a Hurricane. He will lose the support of his party and he will lose the support of the public.

We are in a full blown Depression. The stock market has crashed. People's entire life savings have been wiped out. President Obama is spending hundreds of billions of dollars completely without regard to the widespread damage the non-stop borrowing and spending is causing.

We are a peaceful and enlightened country. The lofty goals of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity born in the French Revolution have taken root and grown here in the United States.

Revolution will not happen in the United States. The guillotine will not return. But the collapse of our modern day Camelot is not an impossibility. We are in a full blown Depression, just like France in the 1790's.

POST SCRIPT: Two very interesting things struck me as I read about the French Revolution. First, King Louis XVI was enormously popular throughout the revolution. He had very broad support of the people right up to, and even after, his execution!!

Second, the relative democracy of King Louis XVI's France (there was an elected Parliament with three houses of government (nobles, commoners and clergy) and an independent court system) was replaced with an absolute dictatorship of Napoleon.

Dim Sum

I'm afraid these three little dumplings I'm serving for a luncheon snack just might make you throw up........

The world is trying so very hard to awaken our partisan political leaders from their slumber. These aren't Republicans slamming the new President. These are real experts trying hard to get through the wall partisan rhetoric. Please turn off the politics long enough to listen.

1. The Wall Street Journal: The Obama Economy - "Americans have welcomed the Obama era in the same spirit of hope the President campaigned on. But after five weeks in office, it's become clear that Mr. Obama's policies are slowing, if not stopping, what would otherwise be the normal process of economic recovery. From punishing business to squandering scarce national public resources, Team Obama is creating more uncertainty and less confidence -- and thus a longer period of recession or subpar growth."

"What is new is the unveiling of Mr. Obama's agenda and his approach to governance. Every new President has a finite stock of capital -- financial and political -- to deploy, and amid recession Mr. Obama has more than most. But one negative revelation has been the way he has chosen to spend his scarce resources on income transfers rather than growth promotion. Most of his "stimulus" spending was devoted to social programs, rather than public works, and nearly all of the tax cuts were devoted to income maintenance rather than to improving incentives to work or invest."

The entire article is so very important. Click over and read it all.

2. James Cramer on CNBC: It’s Amateur Hour at Our Darkest Moment - “Until the Obama administration starts listening, until they start paying attention to what you’re watching – to the stock market, until they realize that their agenda is destroying the life savings of millions of Americans – then all I can give you is caution."



3. I spent the morning watching U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony before the Senate broadcast live by both CNBC and FBN. It was riveting. Bernanke does support the Obama stimulus plan but simply couldn't warn Congress often enough that the deficit must be reigned in and quickly.

One very sad and telling moment was when a Democrat made a labored effort to place the deficit blame on President Bush. Bernanke was calm and patient and respectful, but made it very clear the Bush deficits were minor in terms of economics and in relationship to the GDP and income tax revenue. The Obama deficit is an entirely different matter.

But my point here is that after watching the testimony I switched back to MSNBC where the headline and virtually every story was the "Rush Limbaugh battles Michael Steele for the soul of the Republican Party" story worthy only of Entertainment Tonight and not a major news network. I watched for 30 minutes and the story was repeated SEVEN TIMES!!! No joke. Bernanke's testimony was never mentioned.

I couldn't believe me ears. To give some credit to MSNBC, Pat Buchanan tried to simply dismiss the "controversy" for the complete non-story it is and tried his best to spread the warning of the coming economic disaster.

But I then had to check the other two cable news networks. I dutifully watched FOX for 30 minutes and heard a great interview with Gov. Tim Kaine, the Chairman of the DNC. Kaine's honesty and candor were refreshing. The interview was intelligent and timely. And neither Michael Steele nor Rush Limbaugh were mentioned even once. And Rush was never mentioned during the entire 30 minute break.

Then I switched to CNN. CNN was covering the Bernanke testimony and the economic situation. They also covered several other news stories, most importantly a building collapse in Cologne with devastating images. But Rush Limbaugh never got a single mention.

I have often criticized FOX NEWS as being a Republican outlet. But, at its very worst, FOX has never come close to the complete journalistic sellout of MSNBC. They are doing a grave disservice to their viewers.

Picking Your Opponent

We are looking down the barrel at a ten year Depression. And that is the best case scenario. Best Case.

Barack Obama and a blind, deaf and dumb Democrat Congress have sown the seeds of the destruction of the United States and they are waiting for those seeds to germinate.

Lots and lots of folks are aware of this and they are all screaming at the top of their lungs. The Congressional Budget Office. Wall Street. The nation's leading and most respected economists. Historians. And a few politicians. And even a few in the media, mostly the financial media.



Make no mistake about it. The sky is falling. You are making the most important financial decisions of your entire life right now... whether you know it or not. The Dow dropped below 7,000 today and it will go much lower, possibly as low as 2,500. Unemployment will reach 15%. And the federal government will become technically insolvent, unable to meet its obligations or pay it's debt.

Three things will happen. First, taxes will rise on every single American, including those well below the poverty level to totally oppressive rates. Second, federal services will be cut to the bone, including medicare and social security. Finally, the government will forced to take extraordinary financial measures, either printing money without financial backing, reducing the dollar to a third world currency, or by simply defaulting on the debt, using our military power to demand restructure of debt from our creditors.

Can this be avoided? Only if the nation is totally committed to bringing our best minds and our unified political forces into solving this crisis. It will take the Democrats who control the government to actually take responsibility for their actions and bring back the fiscal responsibility they demanded, but never quite accomplished, during the Bush administration.

What is happening today is the equivalent of a thousand Hurricane Katrinas. The American people are trapped on the roves for their houses and the flood waters are rising. And the federal government's response is worse than anything during Katrina. Far from sending in troops or FEMA, the Obama/Reid/Pelosi team is pumping in more water and demanding no boats enter the rising flood. Help is not on the way.

First I believe President Obama wants to do the right things. He is not a bad man. He is naive and incompetent. He has no idea a crisis looms. He wants to reinvent America and wants to have a clear path to complete his social agenda. That would be all good, I would be the leader of his team, except there is a crisis. There are a hundred Hurricane Katrinas. The flood waters are rising. People are going to die.

So I watched MSNBC tonight and marvelled at Chris Matthews, Rachael Maddow and Keith Olbermann who decided in some sort of Machiavellian unison that the lead story on earth was Rush Limbaugh. Yep. Rush Limbaugh.

Aided by President Obama's Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, presumably with Barack Obama's approval, they made a radio talk show host the number one issue in America. The Dow has now robbed Americans of 60% of their life's savings and is crashing to deep depression levels and the most important thing on earth is Rush Limbaugh?

I feel like I'm watching Joseph Goebbels ramping up the crowds for Kristallnacht. And while Olbermann is deranged, he is no Geobbels, so a sort of an apology is in order. Demonizing Limbaugh is not the equivalent of demonizing the Jews. Olbermann isn't trying to start a race war or promote violence against conservative commentators. Well, except maybe Bill O'Reilly, but that's a whole 'nother story.

Still, you do have the leaders of the Democrat Party, many liberals (and progressives, what ever the hell they are), attempting, apparently successfully, to turn Limbaugh, rather than our failing economy, into the enemy. Since the Democrats are the ones actually destroying the economy, they really need this misdirection, this new enemy and the highly visible Limbaugh fits the bill. He's an easy target. And he is huge, in every sense of the word.

How long will this strategy work? Let's pray not long. Everyday that passes without real economic stimulus and every day that passes without real fiscal responsibility, the closer our nation moves toward the real Armageddon.

Rush Limbaugh? Are all Americans that stupid? I know for sure that Chris Matthews, Rachael Maddow and Keith Olbermann are. Robert Gibbs has played them like a fine violin. Otherwise they would cover the real news.

Barack Obama's Vision

This is exceptionally short entry just to add my voice to the overwhelming approval the President has received for his speech last night. Barack Obama did a masterful job. He was articulate and inspiring. One poll I saw this morning on MSNBC indicated his post speech approval rating jumped to 80%.

Taking a step back and looking at the scope of his vision for America, I cannot disagree with him on anything. He has my support on every single proposal.

Of course the devil is in the details and those details will take do time to develop. And Obama still runs the risk that Nancy Pelosi will circumvent his vision and replace it with a pale partisan version of her own.

Already there is one rather horrific note to indicate politics as usual will actually hold sway in Washington. Obama "promised" that "next year" there would be "no earmarks in the omnibus spending bill." He cleverly omitted that promise for this year's bill. The Pelosi authored spending bill being introduced tomorrow contains over 8,000 pork laden earmarks, some so stupefyingly wasteful they defy belief.

As I said, the devil is in the details.

Unfortunately, I heard absolutely nothing from Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal to inspire me. His bizarre partisan pandering seemed small, petty and out of place. He did not represent the Republican Party well. But Jindal was just the sideshow, Obama was the star.

It's Not Morning In America, Part 2

It was good to hear former President Bill Clinton echo my earlier observation that President Obama is too terribly negative in his speeches and conversations with the American people. President Obama is very articulate, but he is not inspirational.

I believe our President is doing everything he can to help the economy and the country. He seems to be working at breakneck speed and with great organization and effort. But his efforts seem to lack optimism or, in the iconic single word symbol of his campaign, "Hope."

Bill Clinton makes exactly the same observation in his interview on ABC NEWS:

"I like [that President Obama is] trying to educate the American people about the dimensions and scope of this economic crisis," Clinton said. "I just would like him to end by saying that he is hopeful and completely convinced we're gonna come through this." "I think you will see some good economic news from the stimulus fairly soon," Clinton said. "I think you'll start to see people express gratitude for getting the unemployment benefits, the tax cuts and the food stamps. And you'll see the money flowing through the economy. Then I think you'll see every state be able to quantify how much better shape they're in, because of the education and health money."

I made the point earlier that a huge part of President Reagan's success in pulling America out of the economic mess at the end of the Carter era was Reagan's electric optimism. We all believed it was "Morning in America."

This doesn't mean you sugar coat the facts. But Obama is now slipping in the polls (down 9 percentage points in one month) and support for his stimulus package has now fallen below 50%. Now there are some very serious problems with the stimulus plan, as I've discussed in several recent posts and will discuss further in the future.

But President Obama can start to improve both his ratings and his efforts by following the advice offered by Clinton, one of the finest communicators in recent times.

How Did This Happen? What Do we Do Now?

Tomorrow Barack Obama will sign the Economic Stimulus Plan into law. This day will long be remembered by economists as the beginning of the end. Not the end of this recession, but the end of the United States as a powerhouse economic engine.

Years from now economists and politicians will look back and wonder "How could this possibly happen?" There were no economic conditions that warranted this type of insane deficit spending. The question will be "How could have our elected representatives been stampeded into taking such self destructive action?"

"How were our representatives tricked into doubling the deficit by passing a bill not one of them ever read?"

We are undoubtedly headed into a major depression that will be combined with massive inflation. In two to three short years, once the major tax hikes already written into law take effect (the expiration of the Bush tax cuts), the economy might will totally self destruct.

The packages extremely minor tax cuts (a 13 dollar a month joke, really) will expire after a few months, not that they will help stimulate the economy. But the insane deficit spending will just be ramping up. Much of this spending will create no jobs.

Unemployment will go well into double digits and inflation will follow, basically destroying the working economy.

What can we do now? Well, economists are beginning to speak up. The alarm bells are sounding. Contact your Senators and Congress persons. We will need to return to spending sanity. And we need real tax cuts that will spur permanent private sector jobs. These will not need to be costly.

Fixing this Stimulus Package error, made on the spur of the moment and without any thought or consideration of its impact, will take many years of tough effort to correct.

It's Not Morning In America

Have you noticed how very pessimistic and negative Barack Obama has become? President Obama is forecasting a longer and longer recession and distant recovery. He is not upbeat. He is not optimistic. He is depressed.

Compare his slow, deliberate and leaden speeches with the buoyant optimism of Ronald Reagan in his first few days as President. It really was "morning in America" and the public found Reagan's optimism was contagious.

This was President Obama just yesterday, "This recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse."

Many in the retail sector (where most of my personal contacts work) are really complaining about Obama "talking down" the economy. They feel Obama is not just forecasting the coming depression, he is actually making it much worse.

I have to agree.

This afternoon the House passed the completely partisan Pelosi and Reid Stimulus Package. It is a real shame that President Obama failed to properly oversee and guide this bill. The package will do a lot of things, but it's not going to "stimulate" the economy. This mess of a pork laden goulash of a bill will not help us to recover from the current recession and, frankly, Barack Obama and his advisers know this all too well.

He dare not speak optimistically, because there is not hope on the horizon. Nor was there any change in the bills development.

Nancy Pelosi, the worst elected governmental officer in the entire history of the United States, effectively killed bi-partisanship by all herself. Not one single Republican voted for her rat (err, mouse) infested stimulus bill. And not one should have voted for it. First, it is morally and ethically wrong to vote for a bill that will damage and perhaps destroy the United States. Second, if Pelosi is bound and determined to exclude all Republican ideas and voices from the development of the bill, she deserves no support.

As a Democrat I am repulsed by Pelosi and her heavy handed and light headed power grab. With supporters like Pelosi, President Obama doesn't need enemies.

Barring a much needed miracle, the pseudo stimulus bill will now pass the Senate. But Republicans will put up a good fight.

But there will be no moral victory for the Republicans. When the country is in ruins and unemployment and inflation reach double digits, there will be no joy in saying ,"I told you so."

Barack Obama is our president and he deserves our support and loyalty. He will need to support of every American to cope and cure the damage this bill will do to our country.

The Long and Slow Slide Into Depression

Between the Senate vote to approve their version so-called stimulus package and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's strangely panicked yet vague bank Rescue Plan pronouncements, the stock market is crashing, now down over 400 points.

Watching President Obama and Secretary Geithner and Senate and Representative Leaders mapping out a multi-pronged governmental approach virtually identical to the actions that led to the 1930's Great Depression is genuinely a terrifying experience. I picked a really poor day to stay at home.

The news reports are restrained (read Five Reasons the Markets Don't Like the Bank Bailout)when compared to the discussions I've had with financial experts behind the scenes. The panic is real. And the markets show it.

The government cannot spend their way out of this crisis. In fact, the more the government spends, the deeper and longer the crisis will last. Geithner's signals of future bailouts really terrifies virtually every economist not on the administration's payroll.

Famed investor and global economic analyst Jim Rogers predicts Government Bonds May Be Last Bubble. If he is even partially right, it would mean the collapse of the United States.

Investors will have to short government bonds at some point despite their current attraction, as the amount of debt issued is "staggering" and inflation risks are down the road, Jim Rogers, CEO of Jim Rogers Holdings, told CNBC Tuesday. "I'm buying gold just because I'm periodically buying gold, because I do expect it to be much higher over the next decade," Rogers said, adding that history has never seen all major central banks printing money "as fast as they can" at the same time. "I know we're going to have serious inflation down the road," Rogers said.

Rogers is right. We are not going to be able to finance this level of national dept. In effect, the government is merely printing money and massive inflation is absolutely guaranteed. Rogers is wise to signal a move to buy more gold.

I believe we really must defeat the massive inflation package masquerading as a stimulus plan. Once again I suggest you call your Representative and Senator. Tell them to delay or vote against the Stimulus Package. We need Democrats to break with the President and vote with the Republicans. That is damned tough for them to do, but our very future depends on it.

Then we must demand a whole lot more from President Obama and Treasury Secretary Geithner.

It Will Take Great Courage......

This is probably the worst bill that has been put forward since the 1930s. I don't know what to say. I mean it's wasting a tremendous amount of money. It has some simplistic theory that I don't think will work, so I don't think the expenditure stuff is going to have the intended effect. I don't think it will expand the economy. And the tax cutting isn't really geared toward incentives. It's not really geared to lowering tax rates; it's more along the lines of throwing money at people. On both sides I think it's garbage. So in terms of balance between the two it doesn't really matter that much. Harvard Economist Dr. Robert Barro

The left wing Progressives and Democrat Party partisans have to decided to brand the Republicans who dare to oppose the Stimulus Bill as "do nothings," bankrupt of ideas and devoid of plans. In a coordinated and choreographed attack almost every Democrat blog and commentator is repeating this obviously false mantra. It's a lie of gigantic proportions, though not as gigantic as the pseudo-stimulus package about to muscle its way through Congress.

Rejecting a bad, bad bill is hardly the same as rejecting the need to solve a very real problem. Republicans put forth a good many ideas and plans, not one of which was ever considered, let alone included, by a totally partisan Democrat majority who refused to allow a single Republican to assist in crafting the bill.

I hate to see the majority of liberal bloggers resort to a complete and utter lie to force through a poorly crafted spending and tax rebate package that will ultimately do much more harm than good.

Under this whithering attack it will be even more difficult for Republicans to do what is needed, let alone attract thinking Democrats to their cause. Never-the-less this plan must be rejected by Congress and the planners must return to the drawing bard for a fresh and totally bi-partisan approach. It's not likely to happen.

Rick Moran echos my analysis. In his article THE STIMULUS SHOULD GO BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD, Moran states,

The chances of deep sixing the stimulus monstrosity and starting over again are as near to absolute zero as you can get in politics. The reputations of Speaker Pelosi, Harry Reid, and the president himself are on the line and a defeat of the conference report in the senate (still a possibility after the House tries to restore many of the cuts made by the senate), would be very damaging to that triumvirate, especially the president. But if ever there were a case where the leaders of the Democratic party should swallow their pride and take the hit on their credibility by tearing up this piece of legislation and starting over, this is it. Not much of a chance of that happening what with Obama going on national TV tonight and a cloture vote scheduled in the senate tomorrow. So Obama will probably ratchet up the fear mongering to heights not seen since Democrats ran commercials accusing Republicans of wanting to kill poor children and force old people to eat dog food. It is one thing to tell us the truth about our dire economic straits. It is quite another to try and make people believe that only by passing his $900 billion panic panacea will we avoid “catastrophe.”