The Dreaded Double Dip

More economic indicators are pointing to a double dip recession heading our way.  That hard reality hit Wall Street yesterday--meaning most of us can look forward to another couple of years of work before retirement now (if retirement is still an option in the post-"Obamacare" US economy).

So you would think that now would be a good time for the folks in Washington to start preparing a plan to bring some long-term recovery and growth--not the short-term solutions that have been tried recently.  Unfortunately, the powers that be right now are steadfast in their beliefs that "theoretical" economics will work the "real world"--despite repeated results that show they do not.

Want some examples?  How about all of those mortgage "rescue" plans that were going to stem the tide of foreclosures and protect home values?  Those who enrolled in those programs and got refinancing are still defaulting at better than a two-thirds rate.  And home values have dropped by another five percent in the first quarter of the year.  If you bought your house after 2002, it is almost certainly now worth less than it was when you moved in.  (By the way, can I expect the Oshkosh Assessment Department to be around soon so that I can pay the "correct" amount of property taxes for the what the true value of my property is now?)

How about Stimulus II or was that III...or was that Stimulus IV?  Anyway, unemployment considerably lower yet?  Got more money in your pocket now?  You don't, because the resulting increases in oil and gas prices--due to the devalued dollar--and higher prices for food have erased it all--and then some. 

So let's hear from the Keynsian Economists now.  The people you have trusted with continued debt they can't handle--and whom you have "helped" and "helped" and "helped" just can't get it together.  If you continue to artificially "stimulate" the economy with more Federal spending, you will further devalue the dollar, drive gas prices over five bucks a gallon nationwide and spur even worse inflation.  And with the Debt Ceiling now limiting how much of today's "recovery" you can place on the backs of tomorrow's taxpayers you have absolutely no wiggle room.

In the meantime, those of us with a plan will continue to sit tight, make do with less and ride out the storm--at least until the triple dip....and the quadruple dip.  Suddenly, I'm really hungry for an ice cream cone.