The Great Crash
posted at 6:12 pm on February 4, 2010 by Doctor Zero
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During my college days in the early Nineties, I read a study that projected tax rates into the future, assuming government spending remained fixed at early Clinton levels. Due to the explosion of entitlement spending brought about by the insolvency of Social Security and Medicare, even the lower income brackets would face something like a sixty percent federal tax burden by the 2020s. Reading this study was one of the most significant events of my intellectual life. I remember thinking, with terrible clarity: That’s just not going to work.
I believe collectivist ideology is an offense against liberty, and also a tragically inefficient means of addressing the social problems it professes to care about. A study of history shows that every form of collectivist ideology has grown increasingly vicious, and eventually murderous, as its ruling elite struggle to retain power. There is one other reason I’m opposed to collectivism: it’s doomed to fail. Even if I were willing to concede Big Government the intelligence and moral stature to control our culture and economy, I would be haunted by the knowledge of its inevitable failure… a destiny written into the DNA of American socialism since the birth of Social Security.
Socialism fails because it’s a static solution imposed on a dynamic society. People respond to incentives, chasing carrots and avoiding sticks. The initial proposition of the New Deal was to provide for the needs of the desperate, by collecting taxes from the wealthy. Unsurprisingly, the system devolved into the vote-buying and corruption we live with today, becoming a heavy wagon hitched to a struggling middle class, which provides far more of the funding than those “fat cats” socialists love to use as whipping boys. Politicians respond to incentives too, and the machinery of the centralized state excels at sucking in tax dollars and spitting out votes. The ugly gears of that machinery are well-hidden behind an illusion of moral authority and seductive promises, alluring enough to compel the faithful support of nearly half the population, even as its unsustainable failures become painfully obvious.
The system was doomed to crash because its vast array of taxes, spending, and regulation destroy the very wealth that sustains it. It ran out of fat long ago, and began feeding on muscle… and now it has worked its way down to the bone. Wealth is a product of choice, and every action taken by a collectivist government destroys wealth by reducing the options available to its citizens. Liberal politicians assume the population will go on blindly producing the same extraordinary prosperity, no matter how much the government skims off the top. That’s why every outbreak of bad economic news is “unexpected” to them, as well as the media who share their assumptions. Has a nation ever grown poorer after reducing the cost and power of its central government? Why would anyone assume a nation could grow richer by reducing the size and power of its private sector?
The towering heights reached by the American economy gives us a long way to fall. Of the dozen wealthiest nations in the world, only America has a nine-digit population. The next largest wealthy nation after us is Switzerland. The system imposed on a population our size is bound to fail with a mighty crash. We take the trappings of our prosperity for granted, and don’t appreciate how complex, fast-moving, and fragile the upper reaches of our economy are. Politicians seeking to micro-manage the corporate world are tinkering with a high-performance engine while it’s still running.
I don’t know exactly what form the Great Crash will take. Social Security has been a ticking bomb for generations, and recently we learned its detonation is much closer than previously suspected. Instead of producing a surplus that helps fund the rest of the government, it has gone into the red… something that wasn’t supposed to happen for over a decade. Social Security was never an “investment” safeguarded by the government. It’s a pyramid scheme, with current payroll taxes funding the benefits of retirees. The original ratio of workers to recipients was over 40 to 1, but now it’s down to three to one… in an economy with over 20% real unemployment, suffering under a government unwilling to do any of the things that would reduce its power, and promote long-term job growth.
Reckless deficit spending has weakened our currency, and hastened the day when Social Security and Medicare entitlements will grow to devour the entire federal budget. Massive tax increases are just over the horizon, awaiting the day when this President feels safe in assuring the voters that fiscal responsibility compels him to unleash them. The point of statist “health care reform” is to make the voters feel the only alternative to those tax hikes is death. The outer limit of New Deal socialism will be reached when overtaxed workers step back from the last few private-sector jobs, and refuse to support dependents who will fight to the death for their benefits.
I suspect the Great Crash would begin long before that ultimate moment of bankruptcy arrived. It could be triggered by an unforeseen catastrophe. By some estimates, the total cost of the 9/11 attacks exceeded two trillion dollars. Barack Obama’s economy would not survive such a blow, especially since his immediate reaction to a systemic collapse would accelerate it, by nationalizing more of the private sector.
Even without a catastrophic trigger, the tragic end of our old system would begin when the job-creating upper class exercised its option to withdraw from the economy, taking money and capital with it. One of the most important attributes of wealth is the range of options it brings. The people targeted most aggressively by desperate socialists can simply leave the system. They can stop investing, hoard their wealth, or move overseas. They can do this very quickly, and they are, by definition, highly skilled at sensing the right moment for dramatic action.
The rich will play along for a good long while, and as you can see from the number of well-connected Democrats raking in fortunes during this recession, they can even profit handsomely by purchasing influence over a stagnant command economy… but when they feel the endgame approaching, they’ll be gone before their old pals in Congress know what hit them. When you hear a leftist declare that all of our problems can be solved by soaking the rich, understand that will never happen, because the rich will jump out of the pool before they get soaked past the knee.
The time of the Great Crash has not arrived just yet. As bad as things may seem now, they can get an order of magnitude worse… and that means we still have time to change course. Your daily life depends on billions of transactions performed at the speed of light, millions of tons of goods shipped across vast distances, and oceans of gasoline flowing from convenient pumps. These complex systems cannot sustain much damage before your life changes in ways you might never have imagined. The people responsible will tell you it was inevitable, or it was all your fault for living so well in the first place. They’ll try to divert your anger to their enemies, and expect you to trade your ambitions for the sustenance they will provide.
We don’t have to let it come to that, if we remember that prosperity is inseparable from freedom, while command offers only obedience and survival. We don’t have to lose much more freedom before we lose a great deal of our prosperity. Every dollar spent by the government is a dollar that won’t be able to generate wealth through choice. We still have the imagination and energy to put the bankrupt ideology of liberalism behind us, before it bankrupts us. We can thank the deluded intensity of Barack Obama and the last true believers of the Left for making it clear how the story of the almighty State will end, in the absurdity of a $14 trillion debt that still isn’t big enough for them. Our grandfathers broke the Axis and rebuilt the world. Our fathers made academics eat every word they wrote about the inevitable triumph of communism. We have one last pitiful offspring of the collectivist dream to bury. We can do it, but it will require vision and leadership.
Simply returning to the bloated budget of George Bush’s final year would require a historically unprecedented cut of over 15% in total government spending. The budget President Obama just submitted would swell the federal workforce to over two million. Trimming it back to where Bush left it would put half a million people out of work. Correcting this ruinous course will be an achievement unlike any the world has ever seen. The world has also never seen anything like the crash that awaits us if we fail.
Cross-posted at www.doczero.org.
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Sadly, I’m not as optimistic as you are, Doc.
JohnJ on February 4, 2010 at 6:27 PM
That’s only because somebody decided to come in with a marauding army and pick over the bones of every other nation-state before they got to the point where we’re headed.
steveegg on February 4, 2010 at 6:32 PM
Brilliant post Dr. Zero.
Just one question, how do we fix the problem?
Okay, two questions. If the collapse is inevitable, how do individuals survive?
Skandia Recluse on February 4, 2010 at 6:48 PM
Sir, I greatly admire your thoughts and your ability to convey them with clarity and insight. Thank you.
I’ve quietly asked myself the same questions Skandia Recluse has asked. How do individuals survive and how do we fix all that’s been usurped, violated, and trampled?
24K lady on February 4, 2010 at 7:55 PM
Stop paying into the system and we can force them to give it up. On the other hand if we keep feeding the beast it’s hunger will eventually devour all in it’s reach.
Kill the progressive income tax before it kills us all.
larvcom on February 4, 2010 at 8:04 PM
The world has also never seen anything like the crash that awaits us if we fail. — Doctor Zero
—–
That’s only because somebody decided to come in with a marauding army and pick over the bones of every other nation-state before they got to the point where we’re headed.
steveegg on February 4, 2010 at 6:32 PM
——
China is just about perfect for this role, y’know.
Mew
acat on February 4, 2010 at 8:55 PM
I’ve always understood this and never been able to grasp why some people do not. A recession, itself, is what happens when too many pairs of socks get wet.
JCred on February 4, 2010 at 9:00 PM
Certainly the Doc is discussing the MSM’s economy and all things reportable. Spot on.
There is a very dynamic underground economy that thrives but is relegated to third world status by non-participants. The cash economy. The government will attempt to make cash as extinct as the dodo bird when they finally attempt to address this “treasure trove”. Watch for that as a sign of impending implosion, shy of an unforeseen catastrophe. We’re well on our way to that moment with the current debit card/credit card/wireless transfer system.
Robert17 on February 5, 2010 at 6:38 AM
+100 That’s been my question all along – they only answer I’ve thought of are General Strikes before it’s too late.
Chainsaw56 on February 5, 2010 at 5:35 PM
What do you mean if we fail?
We’re a little country what has a horrific percentage of peoples what can review the situation you lay out for us and say hey this looks like a job for Sarah Palin.
God help us.
We’re so screwed.
happyfeet on February 5, 2010 at 8:39 PM
taint nothin’ a dollop of that commonsense conservatism can’t fix now buy my book cause mama needs a new car
happyfeet on February 5, 2010 at 8:40 PM
Nice treatise of Obama’s total lack of understanding of our democratic process. (Not Deomcrat process).
Under this buffoon, we are eminently doomed. China and North Korea are rattling swords to scare the Incompetent in Chief, and it’s working.
A world war is looming, because this retard thinks he has a “gift”.
God help us.
Cybergeezer on February 5, 2010 at 8:47 PM
happyfeet,
Proofread much?
Disturb the Universe on February 5, 2010 at 8:50 PM
I have a nagging sense that the administration is more bent on destroying the construct of the very conveyance that so profoundly describes quantitative wealth. A cashless society cannot stray far from the government teat. The quicker the administrations divides and reduces classes the easier socialism is sucked up like milk from a saucer. You can apply this nagging thought to every single action and endeavor the administration has in motion today and has plans to propel at later dates.
ericdijon on February 5, 2010 at 8:54 PM
Bookmarked to read tomorrow with fresh eyes.
In other words, I’d rather be depressed after Saturday breakfast than before Friday dinner.
toliver on February 5, 2010 at 8:54 PM
I think Mr. dijon is right. When you heard today that the little president man is giving up on healthcare it’s cause he’s feeling pretty cocky about slamming our little country to the curb by other means.
happyfeet on February 5, 2010 at 8:56 PM
To stem the tide of entitlement mentality, how come we haven’t instituted random drugtesting of welfare recipients? If you are on the gov’t teat, and drugs are illegal, then the gov’t is buying your drugs for you. Kick the druggies out of the welfare program, and viola! Billions in savings, i’d wager my ‘hanging bits’ on it.
viviliberoomuori on February 5, 2010 at 8:57 PM
So Crappyfeet is now a concern troll?
pugwriter on February 5, 2010 at 8:58 PM
Another bullseye for the Doc.
pugwriter on February 5, 2010 at 8:58 PM
Yep. But FDR wasn’t stupid. You could ‘collect’ when you were 65. Only, at that time, average life expectancy was 59. And over the years no one thought to change the date of when you could start collecting (other than to start EARLIER with reduced benefits at age 62).
GarandFan on February 5, 2010 at 8:59 PM
Way ahead of you.
OldEnglish on February 5, 2010 at 9:00 PM
This is the question that lingers always in the back of my mind as well. How do we preserve as much of what we have as we can and come out as unscathed as possible?
As to a cash economy, I’m not sure what value it will have. If cash ends up being worth nothing, a cash economy will be moot. It will have to be a barter economy, or one in which the currency is based in something of intrinsic value like gold or other metals. Or so it seems to me.
NoLeftTurn on February 5, 2010 at 9:01 PM
Increasingly, it seems like there is one thing that these tax and spend folks in gov’t(all levels) will respond to.
daesleeper on February 5, 2010 at 9:05 PM
Suppose most people declared the maximum number of deductions allowed on their income tax withholding. This would sharply reduce the amount withheld and, when tax time rolled around, assuming that millions of people would cooperate, a huge amount would be owed to the federal government by these maximum-withholding tax payers. Isn’t the next step clear?
Hermeticus on February 5, 2010 at 9:14 PM
Like beads? And the sort of societies that go hand in hand with them?
ericdijon on February 5, 2010 at 9:17 PM
Can you imagine a world where one of the only roles of the Federal Government was to reign in the EPA…
Then let the States, on their own, harvest our oil, natural gas, shale, coal, wind, geothermal, and any other energy source to sell on a competitive market to each other and the world, freeing up our bread basket to harvest food instead of turning it into fuel and selling that to each State and the world,
… think of all of the jobs, wealth, technology, competition, innovation, revenues to government to pay for programs like Social Security, and export to the world inexpensive energy and food, making our enemies in the world bankrupt?
No, we can’t have THAT, now can we?
Seven Percent Solution on February 5, 2010 at 9:19 PM
Great post, but I strongly disagree with your contention that reducing the federal workforce would put half a million people OUT of work. True, it would eliminate half a million federal jobs, but none of those people are doing any productive, value-generating work anyway. So, it would FREE UP half a million people to create products and services, most of whom are currently involved in efforts that discourage production and encourage dependency. People are enormously resourceful, and when they have no other choice, and when they are left to their own devices, most of them will figure out innovative things to do that will create real value, value which they can exchange for other value. Rather than being put OUT of work, downsized federal employees (don’t you love the sound of THAT) would be put INTO WORK – real, useful, productive work.
texasentrepreneur on February 5, 2010 at 9:20 PM
Perhaps the good Doctor Z can explain this to me. Staring us in the face is a disaster of biblical proportions that will certainly soon happen in the lifetime of those of the baby boom generation: The pending collapse of the Social Security Ponzi Scheme. This disaster is blatantly obvious, certainly near term and the Democrats choose to do nothing. Man-made Global Warming, however, will not be felt with any real effect (if at all) for another hundred years, and the Democrats can’t wait to act. Both situations seek taxation of wealth and limitations on liberty as common solutions.
So, Dr. Z, why are these people so hell bent to act on something that most likely will never happen (AGW), while totally disregarding the necessity to act on something that will happen in the next 15-20 years?
BigAlSouth on February 5, 2010 at 9:37 PM
If there is a crash, the people who do well will be the ones who can offer a needed good or service. The ability to produce food or clothing are obvious winners in this scenario. The same with trained medical personnel. Stockpiling is good, but any stockpile will eventually run out.
Conversely, the least well off will be anyone in an urban area. The failure of power systems, fuel and food deliveries will doom a very large percentage of the population in a fairly short time. The few who do get out will face a countryside that will not welcome them unless they have some valuable skill to offer.
trigon on February 5, 2010 at 9:40 PM
Great work.
First there was a technology bubble. Next real-estate. Now we have a government bubble. It will burst. The question is what will happen.
I’m concerned. Really.
bkenner on February 5, 2010 at 9:54 PM
Well Played.
jukin on February 5, 2010 at 10:03 PM
In that case; from the ground up. Your home > neighborhood > town > county > state > a new attempt at limited federal government (maybe).
FloatingRock on February 5, 2010 at 10:15 PM
In case you haven’t noticed, Junior , the latest crash was produced by Banks and the Real Estate business playing the biggest Bait and Switch and Ponzi scheme on the American home owner, in history, to compare the successes of the greatest nation on earth, like for instance, Social Security, the postal system, and our national highway system to the vicious monsters of communist history is absurd, at least.
Those in our great nation who profited did so precisely because of the our great investment in humanity and interior. What we need now is adulthood and reasonable courses of action not ideology masquerading as intellect. Although I will admit that unfortunately is what sabotaged the War on Terror and won the last election.
Observation on February 5, 2010 at 10:17 PM
Personally, I think this is the way to save freedom and capitalism.
The networks need to be put into place to survive after ‘the crash’ without turning to the government. This will be much harder than ever since people rely on everyone for just about everything.
cntrlfrk on February 5, 2010 at 10:21 PM
I think if our federal government collapses, the state borders should be redrawn taking into consideration red/blue divisions. Maybe have City-States for liberal metropolitan areas and State-States for conservative rural areas. Then have two seperate federal governments, one for the City-states and another for State-States, perhaps with only mutual economic and defense ties.
The two governments would be co mingled geographically, but in the modern world I think it could work—(which isn’t to say it’s a necessarily a good idea).
This way the city-states could sink or swim on their own without taking the rest of us down with them. But since they may sink, the only way we could have a common currency, I think, is if it’s secured with gold or some other commodity.
FloatingRock on February 5, 2010 at 10:28 PM
When enough people grasp the concept of “I’ve seen the future and it doesn’t work”, the only choice left is the change the future.
CC
CapedConservative on February 5, 2010 at 10:33 PM
The pendulum swings both ways. What we can do is work as hard as we all can to elect individuals who have a keen sense of everything you just wrote Doc. If the statists can get within inches of socialism, we must seaze that backward momentum from their failure to enact with great speed the ideas we have that will turn our country towards the right direction.
Flat tax or similar ideas seem like pipe dreams to many of us…but ask yourself why it has to be so? Certainly the statists do not feel the same way about socialism? They are so close to the begining steps they can taste it that even the loss of their symbolic Kennedy seat has not stopped many of them from pushing forward like kamikazi pilots.
If we elect the right people, who share in our belief that the current ways are the death of the Nation as we know it, we can capture the momentum needed to swing this pendelum to prosperity. We can do this and this is actually one of the best oppourtunities we will have in a very long time.
Just as Obama came into power and with lightning speed began his country killing agenda…we can also do the same but in the opposite direction. We can do this and the proof is staring at you from the current administration. Jujutsu my friends, jujutsu.
javamartini on February 5, 2010 at 10:58 PM
This is the way out. Crank up the gears of industry and employ the American people in providing for our own energy needs through building and maintaining our own infrastructure and capitalizing upon on own vast resources.
Harvest the wealth that lies under our soil, under our oceans and start building nuclear energy systems in every state.
There are small scale nuclear reactors that are fully self contained and could be used for small cities and rural towns. Rebuild our rail transportation our highways and our electrical grids. All have fallin to disrepair and by harvesting our vast resources could be rebuilt.
We could produce our way out, but a change of attitude would need to take place. Environuts must be kicked to the curb and Americans producers must be unleashed.
Unleashed to produce, employ, and create wealth. Wealth that will support a scaled down SSI system.
Citizens must be made to take responsibility for their own circumstances. No more unlimited income for makin babies. Real welfare reform must be instituted.
It may take a crash of epic purportions to change the attitude such that these measures could be tried
dhunter on February 5, 2010 at 11:06 PM
Doc, you are always inspiring to read. I appreciate your passion and truly lovely writing.
It tickles my political clitoris.
disa on February 5, 2010 at 11:54 PM
You tell me. All I know is that if the government ever collapses to the point where the dollar becomes worthless, I’m hard-pressed to see how it will be valuable as a currency. Certainly for the time being a cash economy is a viable option — that’s been going on for years and probably even more so now — but it would be difficult, I would think, to amass any kind of meaningful wealth that way. I imagine it would be like trying to tunnel your way out of a jail cell with a dessert spoon.
Or maybe it’s not that hard, I don’t know. If it isn’t, I’m definitely in the wrong business.
NoLeftTurn on February 6, 2010 at 12:08 AM
Man what an article. Thee are several things that will take place before the collapse. Inflation will start to climb because the dollar will buy even less than it does now and then credit to the US will dry up. At that point we will have no option but to slash all Fed and State employee pay and benefits by 20%. This will keep them working but the cost will plummet. De-certify all public service unions! This is the driving force that is taking us all to the edge of bankruptcy. Start a barter system with the people you know and within your community. Unfortunately get out of the stock market. or at least take enough out that you have total control over it. The FDIC will be meaningless once the dollar is falling so even though your assets are protected they won’t have any value. Be proactive and plan ahead with things where to store supplies and where you will go if you are about to lose your home. Gold will be worth it’s weight in gold. It may be the only thing that is usable in a collapsing economy. It’s dire and if Obama stays in power for three more years we may face the apocalypse.
inspectorudy on February 6, 2010 at 12:52 AM
Just say NO to tax increases of any sort. Go Galt. Minimize your taxes in any fashion possible. Starve the beast while protesting furiously that limiting government is the only path forward. Think more in terms of value rather than currency to encourage bartering. Get interested in the mechanics of producing the essentials of life. Realize that you may only survive with the clothes on your back and skills in your hands. It’s not going to be like some movie. It’s going to be ugly, brutal, and back-breaking. Read how people survived the Great Depression. We are going back to that future.
Metanis on February 6, 2010 at 12:53 AM
I was reading an interview by a German who had lived through the Nazi regime. He said that America would never have a German style socialist dictator. America would grow its own kind of socialist dictator. I don’t normally go this way, but we’re headed in a very ugly direction. It probably won’t be as extreme as Nazi Germany, but it’s gonna be bad.
In difficult times, the most insane ideas start up and grow in popularity.
We only have to look to the ‘trolls’ on this site to see them knee-jerk blame everything wrong in the world on conservatives, Republicans, Christians, Sarah Palin, or BOOOOOSSSHHHH. These ideas are gonna get uglier and more hate-filled as the years go on…..
mjk on February 6, 2010 at 1:10 AM
If we’re supposed to trust the government, why can’t government employees trust the government? No union needed.
The upcoming underfunded pension blowout (state and municipal) may put an end to pensions, period.
Welcome to SS along with the rest of us schlubs.
disa on February 6, 2010 at 1:32 AM
That’s enough for me to . . .
hang up my “Gone Fishin” sign!
“Let’s Roll”
On Watch on February 6, 2010 at 1:49 AM
When people learn they are not entitled to the fruits of other people’s hard work, we may start to get somewhere.
An “Atlas Shrugged” moment is in order if we could figure one out.
scotash on February 6, 2010 at 1:56 AM
Great post Dr. Z. There is evidence to support your point in microcosm in New York. I read the wealthy are moving out because they are tired of being soaked and even the Mayor said they can’t keep ratcheting up taxes or more will leave.
I submit that by the time a politician makes such a public proclamation its already too late.
dogsoldier on February 6, 2010 at 5:37 AM
Piece of cake Doc!
All we have to do is remove the leftist cancer from our culture, news media and schools, restore the classic American work ethic to several generations of people raised on entitlement and victim mentalities, drill for every last drop of petroleum and whiff of natural gas wherever it can be found within our borders and immediately dissolve perhaps one third of all government administrations created over the past 50-70 years.
All sarcasm aside, this is a great and sobering essay. G-d help us.
J.J. Sefton on February 6, 2010 at 6:29 AM
I am, err… umm…, amazed to find you’re so young. You have the wisdom and polish of someone many years your elder. So I imagine you have a brilliant future ahead. Move over, Charles Krauthammer, Victor Davis Hanson, et al. Meanwhile, it’s great having you at HA.
petefrt on February 6, 2010 at 6:35 AM
There is hope for our young people after all.
Stepan on February 6, 2010 at 7:30 AM
FIFY.
I love trolls who can’t contribute intelligently to a finely expressed opinion so they divert and deflect with their own brand of idiocy. Part of the reason we’re in the trouble we’re in.
Mr_Magoo on February 6, 2010 at 7:38 AM
There were approximately 80 million babies born during the Boomer years (1946-1964). By 2027, our ‘potential’ SSI liability for Boomers alone could be upwards of $960,000,000,000 per year. Using simple math:
80,000,000 x $12,000 per year = $960,000,000,000
Of course, this assumes that all Boomers survive, apply and collect approx. $1,000.00 per month. Obviously, it is much more complex than that – but it gives one an idea of what is at stake here. And it is only 17 years from now. The way Congress kicks the can down the road…
Mr_Magoo on February 6, 2010 at 7:59 AM
They did, with the ‘reform’ in the 80s, along with increases in the taxes. As a 41 year old, I can (theoretically anyway) draw from SS when I’m 67 and some months. They pushed Doomsday back a few years with this, due to the cash cow that was the Baby Boomers in their earning prime.
A comment on more and more people working for the Government, at all levels: Once we reach a certain number of people working for the State, then they’ll be ‘unable’ to cut government spending. We’ll be putting millions of people out of work, ya know.
bikermailman on February 6, 2010 at 8:11 AM
Doc,
As always, great post.
I’ve been telling friends and family for years that this insane spending is going to destroy us. I remember one of the “boy wonder” economic advisors to Obama, one Peter Orzag (OMB) stating that a 9 trillion dollar debt is unsustainable. The demoncRATS just raised the debt limit to over 14 trillion and it has been said that that ceiling will be reached by the end of March.
The only way to stop this madness is to withhold revenue to the treasury. A good old fashioned tax revolt would starve the machine of funds for the myriad of unnecessary programs.
Without bold action on the part of THE PEOPLE, I fear the good Dr. is correct, the predicted crash will occur; not if but when.
mountainmanbob on February 6, 2010 at 9:01 AM
There is no avoiding this crash. Everything will have to re-value and we must reevaluate our priorities…a bronze statue by Giacometti sold for $104.3 million a few days ago. A statue sold for $104.3 million. What is wrong with us?
allstonian on February 6, 2010 at 9:06 AM
Excellent post all around.
This sentiment is something I’ve been thinking about lately, myself:
Even getting away from entitlement spending, in the larger context of our society and our economy, many people in Washington, on both the right and the left, often exhibit this attitude. That there is something intrinsic about American prosperity and that no matter how much sand you throw into the gears, the system will continue to just hum along as it always have.
We aren’t the richest and freest people on Earth by some kind of historical accident; we were bequeathed a very specific and deliberate system that is being slowly eroded on multiple fronts by cheap politicians who pursue shot term electoral success in the present at the expense of both our heritage and our future prosperity.
johnmackeygreene on February 6, 2010 at 9:27 AM
Dr. Zero is rather bright for a young wipper-snapper.
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B.O.’s tax rate increases will once again prove the Laffer curve.
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As tax rates go up, tax revenue will be reduced.
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It happens every time congress tries to squeeze the economy.
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It’s the Al Capone school of Government.
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esblowfeld on February 6, 2010 at 9:34 AM
Who is John Galt?
RADIOONE on February 6, 2010 at 9:44 AM
They really can’t find the ability to rationally think for themselves Magoo. While I do place much of the blame on our current educational system, Doc’s point about a generation of entitlement mentality—which is systematically creating a binding government dependency—seems to also “feed the animal”. While many conservatives will win seats in November campaigning on reducing the size of government, I believe we need to revisit the liberal curriculum coming out of our public school systems, and the universities preaching this statist ideology. Instead of preparing a student for the harsh realities of a global 21st century where competition, ingenuity, and productivity will be the reward, we have a current educational system that values self-esteem over achievement with an emphasis on social engineering. Until this changes, it will remain a vicious cycle of government reliance versus individual responsibility.
Rovin on February 6, 2010 at 10:15 AM
Even as someone who has no philosophical qualms with the idea of collectivist policy, I cannot ignore this fact.
The federal government simply does too much. I’d love to see an American society that could provide for those with no means and pursue all sorts of projects in the name of the public good…but doing so on the federal level, as you say at the beginning of your post, just will not work.
Decentralization, even for those with visions of a more equal, collective society, must be the priority for federal policy going forward.
Thats twice in a row I’m finding point of agreement, Doc. Has hell frozen over?
ernesto on February 6, 2010 at 10:28 AM
If you have the resources, I would suggest just that.
But what of those left without much of anything thanks to a crumbling economy? Hard to do the “stock up on guns/food/etc.” bit when you’re almost broke.
Dark-Star on February 6, 2010 at 11:42 AM
Maybe more like a “thawing reality” ernesto? I find it refreshing to see you, (if I may), understanding that perhaps the radical direction our current leadership is attempting to take us, might be a “little too aggressive”, with an emphasis on the reliance of our Federal government.
Rovin on February 6, 2010 at 12:17 PM
Well done Doc! First the good news, the National TEA PARTY convention is great, and I’m looking forward to listening to Governor Palin tonight. The bad news, of course is that Doc is right. Unfortunately fixing the deficit spending will not stop the coming storm. We have the dubious honor of front row seats at the collapse of a 300 year old economic experiment in “monetized debt”. Federal deficit spending is probably the last great credit bubble made possible by this “experiment” in monetary implementation before the whole thing collapses. Deficit spending can add energy to the coming implosion but arresting spending won’t stop it. You can almost feel the cracks forming as $14 Trillion (M3) of money attempts to support the weight of $52.6 Trillion in US debt. Monetized debt was a bad idea when proposed to the British Parliment in 1698 and has not improved with age. It does a marvelous job of drowning a government and Nation in debt and that is about it. Oh, on the short term it’s a swell tool for controlling the body politic, unlimited funds will buy alot of media and politicians, but in the long term it always ends the same…. an economic Tsunamia.
From the convention floor.
speed on February 6, 2010 at 12:22 PM
The rest of the “free” world is our parasite. They are free because our armies are there to defend them. When we go down, we’re taking the rest of you with us.
All because the Democrats wanted power.
Mojave Mark on February 6, 2010 at 2:07 PM