The second recession is coming.
The signs are clear now - this is what you get from Republican mismanagement of the economy. But you can't blame George W. Bush. He grew up in two societies which never really accepted what was learned by the New Deal - the conservative South and the land of wealth and privilege.
Among these groups, the New Deal was a great mistake - government giving jobs to the unemployed? Bah! Roosevelt should have given money back to the rich so they could in turn invest it in new initiatives, thereby creating jobs for the unemployed! When you give money to the poor they take advantage of the government - they'll do like that welfare queen and have ten kids and sign up a dozen times and get a dozen checks! They'll be driving around in Cadillacs and wearing designer shoes. And the rich? The people who actually earned their cash? They'll be poorer by a measure! America will STAGNATE! We'll become another FRANCE!!
Whew - man that was scary. But, then this is how these people think - and they have a small point - there will inevitably be some abuse of government welfare programs and yes, we have to take from the richest to give to the poorest. But the rest is myth and exaggeration. The Cadillac driving welfare queen never existed.
And giving money to the rich? Well, we have been doing that for nearly the entire Bush administration and what has resulted?
First of all we have the biggest trade deficit in history. Apparently the people who have money are buying a hell of a lot of overseas goods. Over course throwing in a war in the gulf, source of our precious oil is not helping matters at all.
Second, what is the biggest new business initiative underway in our businesses today? Overseas outsourcing! Now don't get me wrong - India sure as hell needed the work, and this trend was going to happen anyway - but government is now subsidizing it and America needs the work too!
So for every dollar we give the wealthy individuals, some percentage goes toward overseas goods, some goes to overseas outsourcing, and some percentage just sits in the bank, and only what is left after that is presumably paying somebody's salary.
Is this an efficient solution to a recession?
So you better save up - perhaps in euros or gold, not dollars. Government has been run too long based on the myths of southern conservatives and reality is coming to bite us in the ass.
This is why I fight for John Kerry.