Since this blog is ground zero for class envy, you ought to post this site on your blogroll. Looking at that site before writing should get the juices really going.

Jeff

You ought to study the past recessions and depressions to see just what the carnage was. We’re nowhere near those levels, in fact we’re much better than we were off in 1980. There have been times in this country where 75% of the banks closed. There have been times where call money was going for 150%. We’ve had 30% unemployment, and real hunger…even in the last 80 years. As recently as the 80′s, banks were closing left and right(more than 10%), not to mention the S&L’s. This is nothing compared to those times. Anyways, you can’t compare this recession to the last recession in 2001, as recessions differ. As many financial people lost their jobs in 2001 as in this recession. You might want to look at 1970 or 1974 and see how ugly those numbers were. Go to 1907 or 1874 to see real ugly numbers.

A good way to look at it is that recessions present as many opportunities for the sagacious person as full blown economic expansions. There are countless opportunities right now for a person who thinks smart, dispassionately, and uses prescience in their thought process.

The trouble with most of the public is that they actually believe the 24 hour news cycle and get worked up. Since people travel in herds, they are easily manipulated by the powers that be. The key is to buck the herd, be an individual, think for yourself, act in your own self interest, and don’t allow yourself to be spoon fed by the media

Here’s a good video of what the people who will be paying for all this bailout crap think.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1039849853&play=1

Agree or not, y’all will be entertained as it’s from the floor of the CME, and Rick gets input from the floor traders on what they think of Obama’s boondoggle.

Jeff

It’s too early to call this a depression, and I think a number of the layoffs we’ve seen of late have been companies looking for an excuse to lay off people without looking like jerks, but still, this doesn’t look like any of the recessions I’ve been through.

KRUGMAN!

Jeff

If we get to that point, the GOP is gonna be needing a new message that sounds a whole lot different from the old one.

Jeff

As best as I can tell, the Republican strategy to regain control of Washington goes something like this:

1) Deny our current state of affairs is anything more than a typical recession in a typical cycle. This has the effect of a) making it look as though you’d been doing nothing wrong over the last eight years and b) allowing you to say “I told you so” if the stimulus plan actually works.

2) Do everything in your power to stop or gut the stimulus plan. If the economy begins growing quickly and public opinion believes it’s the result of the stimulus package, the Republicans can kiss off any hope of power for the foreseeable future. If it fails, they can say “see, it was unavoidable and now we’re in bigger trouble because of those ‘tax and spend’ Democrats”.

I don’t like the idea of racking up any more national debt, but we seem to have found ourselves in the “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” predicament. At the end of the day, it seems like we’re just federalizing defaulted mortgages. Hopefully, our lenders will have the gaul to believe that we, as a nation, are still good for the money.

I tell ya, i feel the same way when certain groups of politicians start doing the “small government” routine.

While I don’t like most politicians, the Repubs are the biggest liars and abusers out there. I just don’t understand how most of those that vote for them can be _that_ stupid.