>>>>What concerns me most about this entire situation is the sequence of events. We start out with toxic assets. That has been the case for years but it came to a breaking point recently. The financing dries up and the media builds on it and builds on it and what happens? It gets worse. Then congress has to act and they throw money out there but not where it should go. The media keeps on and on and on. Now the country is in a panic and banks aren't loaning money so people stop buying. What happens? More businesses die. More people without jobs and no spending. It just escalates and escalates. In the midst of all this both presidents (Bush and Obama) employ the media to coerce the public into contacting their congressman to act to support their agenda. The stimulus bill looks to me to be a huge liberal/socialist bill(s) hidden inside a supposedly stimulus package. The majority was all democrat policy changes. Too much like Lenin to me. Tell the country the end is near unless something is done in order to push through your monster changes. Lie to the public that it will be available for review before voting. How fast can you read 1000 pages? If the changes can stand on their own, they can go through congress on their own and not hidden.
>>>>
>>>>Where is the stimulus package? There is a small one inside the package and hopefully it will work. Jobs will manifest from it (they mostly exist already) but most will be low income and unskilled labor from illegal immigrants I fear.
>>>>
>>>>So, do we all become construction workers and who will hire us when they can hire illegal immigrants so much cheaper?
>>>>
>>>>What's the deficit now? 1.4 trillion this year? Oh well, I'm sure the Chinese and Saudis will bail us out (again)... What's next? Will we all be living under Saudi law or restricted to 1 child per family to keep welfare costs down?
>>>
>>>Your analysis of how this became a crisis so quickly is on the mark. We have been in an economic crisis for decades due to real estate and stock market stupidity, but it took the press and the government to cause a full blown panic which then snowballs out of control. The press has demonstrated it's abilities to start and lose wars, destroy people and companies, eliminate moral values, and now destroy the US economy as a whole.
>>>
>>>The Chinese economy will be affected as badly as most of the west due to their reliance on exports to the west, so they won't be loaning us much if anything in the near future (they'll want to call in loans instead). The Saudis and other oil producers will have relatively bad times for the forseeable future due to slumping travel. If any western nations actually function smartly, their absolute priority for government spending will be on non-oil based energy independence (of course, the US will pay lip service only again).
>>>
>>>So now we add another quick $trillion to the deficit w/o a clue what it will do, while the government and industries decide where to throw the next unknown number of trillions of dollars since taxpayers haven't forcefully stopped the insanity yet.
>>>
>>>I apologised to my youngest son this morning for the country stealing so much from him before he even has a vote or a job. My family had a discussion on how to proceed when the next theft of our future income occurs. It may mean we head elsewhere (out of the US).
>>>
>>>FWIW it wouldn't suprise me to see Obama and the majority of the federal government skip the country with the likely proceeeds from graft they'll receive off the current robbery.. er.. stimulus. That's surely more than their federal salaries and benifits combined.
>>>
>>
>>Oh, for goodness sakes. You are being hysterical. We have withstood greater than this.
>
>When?

Woodrow Wilson and the "Progressives". I recommend to you Jonah Goldberg's book (also on CD - I got it from the library) "Liberal Fascism" Really fascinating and even though I studied history a lot it remind me of a lot of stuff and put a lot of things into perspective. Makes the case that the closest America has ever really come to true fascism was during Wilson's administration and the rebirth during the New Deal. Very interesting stuff and I really think you'd enjoy it.