So what do we do?

I am to the point where I am beyond laughing at our MORON president. To see him with that smug look on his face (I think he is incapable of saying anything with a straight face) say "I know this is a difficult time for our economy" and "But we recognized the problem early and we provided the economy with a booster shot" should have been laughable. He went on to say the effects of the stimulus package are "just starting to kick in". HUH? The checks haven't even been mailed yet. (As an aside, the government is sending out a letter to explain the rebates at cost of 42 million dollars.... and yes, that is just a letter to explain it.)

Do they seriously believe that an extra $600 per person is really gonna do anything? Somehow I bet that extra $600 is going to go to pay for $4 a gallon gas. So other than stimulating Bush's oil company cronies pockets, this is useless.

I still believe oil is the key for our immediate well being. It either needs to be eliminated as the main source of energy (and definitely MUST be long term), or something has to be done to make it more affordable. The problem is that the people in power are profiting so much off of it, nothing is being done. Eventually, I think it will come back to bite them in the ass. I may sound like a crackpot here, but I think with the way things are going, we could see anarchy within our lifetimes, as the poor become poorer and the middle class is no more.

P.S. - MORON President also said he had not heard that gas might go to $4 a gallon. WOW..... all I can say is WOW..... What color is the sky on your planet????

I Forgot One Other Thing

I believe one other thing that is going to have a major impact on the looming Depression (yes I said DEPRESSION, not RECESSION) is the fact that the baby boomers are all leaving the workforce.

There are at least 3 elements to this that I can think of:

1. Less workers = less tax revenue for the government. This as we know is a huge problem for future workers in terms of social security. But beyond that, the income tax stream is also going to be choked off. Just a couple days ago, they said there were more job losses for the month of January than any month in the previous 5 years. Yet the actual unemployment rate did not drop. They said this is because there were less people looking for jobs. You can interpert this 2 ways - unemployed people have given up looking for jobs, OR (and nobody seems to be mentioning this), this is due to workers LEAVING the workforce - i.e. RETIRING.

2. Because they are retiring, they are going to start drawing on their retirement savings. Most people's nest eggs are in the stock market. When they retire, typically they move some or all of it to more stable, less risky investment choices. By this many people taking their money out of the market, selling pressure will increase, when comined with other instability in the economy, possibly causing a market crash.

3. Healthcare crisis. As these baby boomers age, the strain on the healthcare system will be to the point of breaking. If something were to occur on a national scale (Bird Flu? or some other variant of the flu), we'd be seriously screwed. There aren't enough hospital beds to go around in many areas of the country as it is now, not enough nurses, surgeons and other healthcare professionals.

Throw all this in with the items I previously mentioned, and we are definitely heading for something bad. Very bad.

OIL

Oil is at its all-time inflation-adjusted high, gas prices soon to follow. I think we are on the verge of a serious economic crisis, and I think the main culprit is the price of energy, specifically oil.

We could be looking at a late 70s situation again, with record inflation as well. Stir that up with the current sub-prime crisis (and the Fed cutting rates to try and bail it out)
, consumer debt in general, throw in the fact that we are spending billions on useless wars overseas, and I think we might have the perfect formula for another depression. Unemployment will undoubtedly go up soon. It may only be a matter of time before overseas investors start pulling out of the U.S.

I don't mean to sound all doom and gloom, but I really think we are in trouble here. It seems that no one cares either. The American auto manufacturers are going to be in for a rude awakening, since they continue to manufacture gas-guzzling vehicles that soon few will be able to afford to drive. Why are hybrids not the only thing being manufactured now? Aside from the fact we know that green house gases are depleting the ozone, causing global warming, the fact that we are contributing to killing our own economy by our driving habits/vehicle choices boggles the mind.

The government better wake up soon, and I can only hope it isn't too late.

P.S. - check out the current price of a barrel of oil on the right side of the page. I remember a few years ago when it was like $30 a barrel and if it got over $40 people freaked....

One last note - wheat prices are now at a record high too.
Double whammy here, as farmer's are growing grains for things like ethanol (which I personally don't believe is doing much for our energy crisis - I mean, I am not aware of a single gas station locally that sells E85, and most cars can't run on it) to add to food inflation, along with energy costs.....