The Coming Disaster

This week in both the National Post and the Globe and Mail, allusions were made to the possibility that economic recovery has already begun, or will begin shortly. Naturally, the current batch of politicians are already burnishing their economic credentials, preparing to take credit for the "miraculous recovery".

Frankly, this is horseshit.

First of all, there is no possible way that the "stimulus" packages could be credited with a potential recovery. Why? Because the vast majority of that money hasn't been spent yet. Essentially, the governments of the West are expecting us to believe that merely the ephemeral promise of governmental largesse has produced a counter-cyclical effect! Consumer confidence restored, the great toxic assets purified by the Name of Mighty Keynes. Right, and if that's true then swine flu is really avian flu because the pigs are darkening the skies over a newly risen Atlantis.

Part of a particular process taught to all military officers involves asking yourself, repeatedly, "Has the situation changed? If so, how does this affect me?" Well, the situation hasn't changed. Americans and Canadians, and probably everyone else, are losing their jobs at a steady rate. Toxic assets are still toxic, and people are still defaulting on mortgages. Banks are still skittish about lending to each other, as no one's asset sheets are believable. Worst of all, the government is refusing to allow banks to pay back the TARP funds so as to be free of congressional interference. Oh, and GM and Chrysler still have moronic business practices.

Economists are predicting minor growth, and soon. Bully for them. I consider this to be the eye of the storm, because as RS McCain states "The Fundamentals Still Suck". Not to mention the government is aggravating the situation with needless interference and an increase in taxes for, well, just about all Americans. Mark Steyn is looking more and more prescient in his warnings that the dreaded Rich in America might soon include more people than expected.

So what do we have now? Perhaps, and I consider this very likely, we will have a happily ignorant plebeian class more than ready to return to somnambulism, encouraged by a class of elites with no understanding of economics but a burning desire to rearrange the world into some Utopian order. My brother, a legal alien in Oklahoma City, commented that the latest rash of get rich quick ads go something like "Big Business is getting bailout money! Now it's your turn!"

The American Dream is slowly being eroded by an addiction to government largesse. The only Justice that comes from Socialism is that people dumb enough to buy into it will get exactly what they deserve. Unfortunately, the rest of us will be collateral damage.