S&P Chart of 1000 Truths

Be skeptical of assurances that the great recession is over.

Mr. Rogers All Up In Alexis’s Neighborhood

Friedman v. Donahue - Greed

Chart: Money in Circulation (Inflation Adjusted)

Monetary Base

Amount of money in circulation ~1917 to Present (as printed by the Fed).  Pay close attention to how this graph ends.

House Passes ‘Stimulus’ 244-188, Spites Face

Yet another stimulus bill has passed under supposedly “urgent” circumstances.  “We don’t have a moment to spare,” Obama declared (perhaps pretending that he is the new George W. Bush).  The last trillionesque-dollar stimulus  was hurried through under much similar circumstances - though at that time, the House had enough sense to vote against it the first time. (For more “urgent” do-gooding by Congress, see Patriot Act.)

It used to be that there was enough wisdom in this country to not cut off your head to spite your face (e.g. spending our nation into insurmountable debt obligations and destroying the dollar to alleviate our borrowing and spending too much).  Now it seems that anyone can be convinced to  lop off their own head as long as they are pressured with the insistence that they are imminently and urgently ugly.

The U.S. economy certainly is ugly, and for our US Congress, there isn’t a moment to spare.