I’m going with depression. It will certainly be worse than anything I have witnessed in my lifetime. I am currently 77 years old. My neck skin actually touches the ground. Anyway, what we are looking at is a big bad economic turndown. The only way to save our asses is an FDR type stimulus plan. If Obama doesn’t pull that off, we will become a country dominated by huge corporations and huge government (And no, we are not there yet).

Last Friday, the Labor Department kicked out some “surprising” news. Unemployment is up. Way up. It’s only surprising because idiots keep thinking were at a bottom. We are far from it. Before this fucker is over, we’re going to lose 10 million jobs. In September we had 2,269 mass layoffs. That’s a 57% increase from September 2007. This is a runaway train.

Good news for people investing in food pantries, though! People can’t afford food!

Indiana

Pennsylvania

Nebraska

Just Google “Food Pantry.” It’s fun!

Not only are people losing their jobs, but they are staying unemployed longer. Since October 2007, the median duration of unemployment has gone up from 9 to 11 weeks. The more people lose the jobs, the more people are seeking jobs, the longer it takes to get a job.

During recessions, the U.S. doesn’t usually do too bad. We are a big ass country, so while one area may be getting hit hard, other areas can pick up a bit of the slack. That’s not what is happening now. We are going down everywhere, so people can’t move to an area that is doing better. The U.S. hasn’t experienced this kind of fucked up economy since the 1930s.

We are losing jobs in every sector of our economy. By “every,” I mean construction, leisure and hospitality, agriculture, education and health services, government workers, self employed peeps, financial peeps, information services, transportation and utilities, retail, nondurable goods, durable goods and manufacturing.

So we are hemorrhaging jobs. What to do? How about cutting interest rates to increase borrowing and spending? Nope. The Federal Reserve has already cut that fucker down to the bone. We have an empty chamber there.

How about the traditional borrowing by consumers during a recession? Uh oh. We are in debt up to our assholes. In 2001, we borrowed to get out of that recession, but this time we can’t. Housing prices have dropped and credit is tightening. That means no refinancing, no home equity loans. Gonna hit up that 401K? Good luck. 50% of U.S. households don’t have one. In 2001, they were averaging $96,000. The 50-75% peeps have a whopping $15,000 on average. They were sitting pretty with $222,000 in 2001. Not looking too good is it? We have no savings. None. Zip. And we can’t get loans. Credit cards are the next big bust. Expect companies to begin pulling cards and lowering credit limits.

That would be round two of the American economic shit-kicking. When the credit cards go bye bye, things will get really bad.

Bank credit always declines during recessions, so this is no surprise. It’s just that this time, it looks worse than many of our past recessions. And add to that our currency situation. The Bush administration has been weakening the dollar since 2001 in order to grow U.S. exports. It worked. And the dollar plummeted to new lows. Now the dollar is strengthening again. But it's still not anywhere near where it needs to be to deal with this recession.

So, we can’t use the usual monetary, currency or credit tools to get out of this recession.

We have been heading for this nightmare for years. We started expanding credit in 1980 and have been following an unsustainable path ever since. Now the chickens are coming home to fuck us in the ass. (They are horrible chickens.) We basically went on a credit bender, which led to everything falling apart. First the U.S. credit market froze up, then the international credit market. Thankfully, we have the worst president in the history of our country in charge and he has been failing as best he can. The Fed and the Treasury Department have given lots of money to loosen up the credit market, but the banks are using it for bonuses and vacations. Had the money been given to homeowners and small business owners, it would have gone straight into the economy. Instead, they are sitting on it.

Now Bush and company are saying they won’t give any of the bailout money to the auto industry. Super. What we need now is a massive layoff of workers. That’ll give this teetering economy a boost. Oh, and the Chinese are waiting in the wings to buy GM and Chrysler.

If the Chinese buy GM and Chrysler, then there is no reason for Toyota, Nissan and BMW to build cars in the U.S.. The only reason they do so is to because of American consumer pressure. They want to appear to be helping the American worker. With no American company to compete with, they’d be south of the border in a heartbeat.

The government will have to bail out the car companies. But where does it stop? As the economy continues to fail and more and more industries begin to fail, how much does the government inject?

Obama needs to take a look at what kind of economy we want at the end of this crisis. Bailouts cannot just go to big companies. A bailout of Tesla Motors, along with the big car companies, will help further our future outlook. Companies like Tesla have a big upside and they the type of company that has made America a economic giant. Bailouts cannot come at the expense of the little guy.

We must change everything. From this point forward, borrowers should pursue lenders, not vise versa. Lenders should only mail credit card solicitations to people who are credit worthy, not anyone with a social security number. Credit card companies should not punish people who pay off their bills, while rewarding those who increase debt. Houses are for living in, not making a quick buck. We start using credit to buy things like cars, not vacations. Oh, and banks shouldn’t have to be told by the government to check out a person’s credit rating and job situation before giving them a loan. They should actually just want to do it themselves. The government needs to encourage investment and savings, not shopping at all costs.

And we need a long term, New Deal type of plan. Investment in our infrastructure is a must. We are looking at some seriously fucked up times over the next couple of years. Long-term investment is the only way to go. Inaction will be devastating.

Either way, we are going to see some seriously ugly shit over the next couple of years.


FearTheReaper is a writer, actor and stand up comedian. Check back each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday for more from FearTheReaper and read his blog, Stop All Monsters.