>>>>I agree with those quotes 100%.
>>>>
>>>>Too many people equate capitalism and free-market economics with Bush - failing to realize how much Bush used "the mighty hand of government".
>>>
>>>You know when you're watching the road runner and coyote? And the coyote has the cliff break away from underneath him? Well, that's where you are.
>>>
>>>It's time to slam on the economic brakes and back up a few feet.
>>
>>The economic brakes would be slammed on, all right.
>
>
>Yeah. Things could get bad.
>
>We could have 10% unemployment, with people who actually want to work being without jobs for years.
>
>We could have a housing crisis. Housing sales could be almost non-existent.
>
>We could have looming tax increases of unprecidented proportions.
>
>We could have ongoing bank failures and financial bailouts.
>
>Oh... wait... we have that now.
>
>What was the question?

Yes, those things are true now. The question is how we get out of it. Reducing investment is not the answer. The private sector has not been the answer. The biggest problem with the stimulus bill(s) has been that the businesses receiving money have not been pumping it back into the economy, which was the idea. Just look at the banks, everybody's favorites. Instead of lending out the TARP money they have been sitting on it or repaying it to the government without doing anything with it. It sounds counter-intuitive but when the economy is in trouble, that's when spending is needed. It's the fuel that drives the engine.