I know that the conventional wisdom on both right and left is that a depression is a terrible thing.
But we used to be in horror when the Bush administration ladled debt for the war and the tax cuts onto our children's heads.
Why is it OK now?
One might argue that this deep recession is the penalty this generation, right now, must pay for building up so much debt.
I know, there are bad people who sold crummy mortgage products, etc. But we too bear some responsibility -- so many things we had to have, and bought on time, and helped create the giddy climate of denial.
Every investor who put his 401k in the hands of an asset manager who promised 20 percent annual returns.
We were all speculators in that sense.
So why, if this is our fault, are we pushing the pain onto the future generations, instead of taking the hit ourselves?
I have kids, and they aren't going to be able to handle what we are handing them.
I'm not volunteering to lose my home, to see my city shut down, or to fill the streets with hungry people.
But is there any question that we are packaging that fate up for the next generation?
Figure what $700 billion comes to, per capita. Add to that the cost of our national debt, rising costs of education and health care, etc etc --
How will they live? And why do we deserve, just because we are "in power," to dodge this awful bullet?
Just some dour wonderings ...