More economic danger signs on the horizon

Good post, Rob.  Just yesterday I saw a report that said just over 80 banks had gone under this year.  But over the next two years an additional 1000+ banks are expected to follow suit.  The "comforting" part of that was it's "only" smaller, relatively unknown banks that will be going under.  So, it will "only" hurt small businesses and individuals.  At least none of the big businesses will be hurt.

This afternoon I saw a comment pointing to an article by Star Parker from about 6 months ago...  Here's what the article said:

Six years ago I wrote a book called "Uncle Sam's Plantation." I wrote the book to tell my own story of what I saw living inside the welfare state and my own transformation out of it.

I said in that book that indeed there are two Americas. A poor America on socialism and a wealthy America on capitalism.

I talked about government programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS), Emergency Assistance to Needy Families with Children (EANF), Section 8 Housing, and Food Stamps.

A vast sea of perhaps well intentioned government programs, all initially set into motion in the 1960's, that were going to lift the nation's poor out of poverty.

A benevolent Uncle Sam welcomed mostly poor black Americans onto the government plantation. Those who accepted the invitation switched mindsets from "How do I take care of myself?" to "What do I have to do to stay on the plantation?"

Instead of solving economic problems, government welfare socialism created monstrous moral and spiritual problems. The kind of problems that are inevitable when individuals turn responsibility for their lives over to others. The legacy of American socialism is our blighted inner cities, dysfunctional inner city schools, and broken black families.

Through God's grace, I found my way out. It was then that I understood what freedom meant and how great this country is.

I had the privilege of working on welfare reform in 1996, passed by a Republican congress and signed into law by a Democrat president. A few years after enactment, welfare roles were down fifty percent.

I thought we were on the road to moving socialism out of our poor black communities and replacing it with wealth producing American capitalism.

But, incredibly, we are going in the opposite direction.

Instead of poor America on socialism becoming more like rich American on capitalism, rich America on capitalism is becoming like poor America on socialism.

Uncle Sam has welcomed our banks onto the plantation and they have said, "Thank you, Suh."

Now, instead of thinking about what creative things need to be done to serve customers, they are thinking about what they have to tell Massah in order to get their cash.

There is some kind of irony that this is all happening under our first black president on the 200th anniversary of the birthday of Abraham Lincoln.

Worse, socialism seems to be the element of our new young president. And maybe even more troubling, our corporate executives seem happy to move onto the plantation.

In an op-ed on the opinion page of the Washington Post, Mr. Obama is clear that the goal of his trillion dollar spending plan is much more than short term economic stimulus.

"This plan is more than a prescription for short-term spending-it's a strategy for America's long-term growth and opportunity in areas such as renewable energy, health care, and education."

Perhaps more incredibly, Obama seems to think that government taking over an economy is a new idea. Or that massive growth in government can take place "with unprecedented transparency and accountability."

Yes, sir, we heard it from Jimmy Carter when he created the Department of Energy, the Synfuels Corporation, and the Department of Education.

Or how about the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 -- The War on Poverty -- which President Johnson said "...does not merely expand old programs or improve what is already being done. It charts a new course. It strikes at the causes, not just the consequences of poverty."

Trillions of dollars later, black poverty is the same. But black families are not, with triple the incidence of single parent homes and out of wedlock births.

It's not complicated. Americans can accept Barack Obama's invitation to move onto the plantation. Or they can choose personal responsibility and freedom.

Does anyone really need to think about what the choice should be?

Jim - we are in a very fragile economic situation right now. Perhaps the economy is turning around, but, as you pointed out, there are some dark clouds out there that we still have to endure. We don't need any more legislation that is going to kill the goose that laid the golden egg.

Rob, Noriel Roubini, esteemed economist predicted two years ago we would enter a "W" (interesting connection) recession.  He says we are now on the top of the center of that letter with another big dip on the horizon.  All indicators are just that.  I find it interesting that some here prefer to politicize the situation, forgetting on whose watch the recession started and whom did nothing to try to stave it off.

It is GWs fault I tell you, he is secretly running the country from an undisclosed location (somewhere on an oil rig in Iraq). I am always amazed at people that live in the past. Jimmy Carter did this and GW did that.

The bottom line is the current president whoever it is has the power to do whatever he pleases within the constraints of Congress and when the same party has it all then the president is virtually uncontrollable.

Obama has it all and he is trying to get things going and spending hi sway out. Time will tell if it worked or not and I think it will be sooner than later. But it is his to do or die by. Blaming it on GW or JC is wrong or ludicrous. As Obama has show with a stroke of a pen he can spend trillions and change whatever he wants. Now congress can and will reign him in as they are showing on the health care issue. But it is his and only his so put the blame or praise where it truly belongs squarely on his shoulders. I wish him all the best as an American.