It’s been an interesting couple of weeks. Official Washington has been on display in all its finery and regalia. Obama addressed Congress live on every major network, Tim Geithner, our boyish Treasury Secretary had a town hall meeting and multiple online “chats”. The Fed’s Beige Book report on the state of the economy came out and proclaimed that the economy is now healthy. Obama addressed our children. Most of the kiddies were forced to sit in front of a t.v. and be spoon-fed a healthy dose of Statist American Pie from the supreme commander. Here are what I perceive these messages to have entailed:
Obama to the children: Stay in your government-run institution (school). Obey your teachers. You cannot make it in this world on your own. Don't even try.
The Fed to Wall Street: We fixed it. Aren’t we great? Nothing to see here, move along.
Geithner to whoever bothered to listen: I’m relevant and I want credit for fixing stuff and I want to leave the door open for helping out my buddies back at Goldman a little bit more so I’ll just say not everything is hunky-dorey yet.
Obama to Congress and the U.S.: I really, really, really want this huge, massive boondoggle called health care to pass. It’ll work, trust me. Everyone’s gonna be happy. I swear. And please don’t bother to do any math here because I am an economic genius and I’ve figured out how to squeeze water out of a stone that’s been in the desert for 10 million years. Pay no attention to the $900 billion price tag (which will probably triple in price just like every other government program).
U.S. to U.S.: Can you believe that asshole shouted “You lie” at the President?
The statists are making it very hard to carefully analyze the true state of affairs in this country. Wall Street thinks everything is fine and is undergoing a rally. The public has seen the deficit balloon in just a year to unmanageable levels but couldn’t care less. Politicians are spending our money like they’ve been given daddy’s credit card with no limit. Democrats think they’re on a roll because the Republicans are in a truly sad state and out of touch. Homeowners think they’re home values will keep rising. Businesses think that everything is ok.
Here’s the truth: The U.S. is in the midst of a major downturn. Housing will continue to crater, in fact we’ve only seen the beginning of what will probably be known as a housing led depression. Unemployment will continue its steady rise. The dollar is in serious trouble and runs the risk of serious devaluation, a travesty that will affect every single one of us. The anger that is brewing in America is the object of late-night jokes but there is a serious undertone there and they will get more organized and violent. The statists will assume more power and we’ll see a further erosion of civil liberties.
What’s my point in saying all of this? It aint over. It’s not even close.
