Doug Ross: "We are now in the early stages of a depression."

"We are now in the early stages of a depression. The economic indicators we follow to track real economic activity are all signaling a slowdown of massive proportions. You wouldn’t know it reading the mainstream papers of course – they all focus on the relative decline in the slowdown’s intensity."

In short, the Obama-Pelosi-Reid Stimulus package that was passed, sight unseen, is an unmitigated Keynesian disaster:

Government Tax Revenue Declining:

· 32 of the 46 states whose fiscal year ended midnight July 1, 2009, did not have budgets signed by their Governors. States are grappling with deficits totaling a collective $121 billion...
· Personal income tax, which accounts for more than a third of state revenues, dropped by 26% in the first four months of 2009...
· The US government has spent $2.67 trillion thus far in fiscal 2009, but has only collected $1.59 trillion...
· The US government collected $685.5 billion in individual income taxes so far this year, a 22% drop from the $877.8 billion the government took in during the first nine months of 2008...
· US corporate income taxes plunged 57% to $101.9 billion in 2009, down from $236.5 billion in the first nine months of fiscal year 2008...

You will find the rest of Doug's excellent post here.

It is not a comfortable read.

In my home state of Georgia, the official unemployment rate has now gone above ten percent. By my estimation, the actual rate is probably closer to eighteen percent.

It troubles me greatly that so many government-schooled Americans actually believe that the federal government, by spending trillions of dollars that we do not have, is somehow going to lead us out of this rapidly declining economic situation. It didn't work for FDR in the 1930's, nor anywhere else it has ever been tried, and it isn't going to work now.

Our government is making almost the exact same mistakes that were made in the years following the stock market crash of 1929. I hate to point this out, but the definition of insanity is to do the exact same thing the exact same way over and over, each time expecting a different result.

The only entity that has the ability to eventually bring us out of this mess is the private sector, which is currently being strangled to death by the policies of the Obama administration.

Unless or until the federal government releases its ever tightening death-grip about the neck of the private sector, I see no real economic recovery coming our way anytime soon.

I fear we are headed for a decidedly dark period as a nation.

(h/t: HotAir Headlines)