The Approaching Financial Train Wreck

From Dr. Mark W. Hendrickson at the Center for Vision & Values:

We have a problem. This could be “the big one”—bigger than coping with the Ahmadinejads, Kims, and Chavezes of the world and bigger than our current economic woes. Our republic, our society, may be heading for a crackup. We are bankrupt, both financially and politically.

The source of the problem is democracy. Decades of so-called “progressive” thought have led us to abandon the limited-government, constitutional republic established by our founding fathers. In the name of putting more power into the hands of "the people," the government has arrogated sweeping powers.

[...]

Crude, majoritarian democracy (as in, “there are more of us than there are of you, so we’re going to redistribute your wealth”) inevitably undermines the harmony of society. A free market, as competitive as it is, is based on peaceful, voluntary cooperation. When commerce is free and unfettered by government interference, both sides to a transaction normally gain, thereby promoting social harmony.

Democracy, by contrast, engenders social conflict. Money changes hands by force of the taxman and the threat of imprisonment, not voluntarily. Democracy pits citizens against each other in a sordid squabble whereby many strive to have the state confer benefits seized from their fellow citizens.

[...]

How bad could it get? If the social order breaks down, civil unrest could disrupt markets and shortages of essential goods could occur. The resulting chaos could trigger martial law. A strong leader—a Caesar—could institute some sort of command order. Millions would resent it, but it would be accepted, because the alternative—civil conflict, chronic disorder, and impending starvation—would be intolerable. In such a calamity, Caesar would be the lesser of two evils. The American Republic and Constitution would join earlier democracies in the ashbin of history.

God help us.

God help us, indeed.

You will find the entire article here.

All I can say at this point is buckle up, as I really do not see a way to avoid the approaching train wreck.

(h/t: WorldNetDaily)

Photocredit: The Relationship Economy

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)