Good news, bad news?

By JP Bender

Is a double-dip recession looming? Prognosticators are telling us so. I’m telling you “no”.

That’s probably good news to most of you. But you would be wrong. It’s bad news, because we are in fact racing toward a mega depression that will be worse than anything the country has ever experienced. A double-dip recession would be far better by comparison.

I realize that depression is a strong word, but the towering icebergs of local, state and federal debt are about to sink the country into a Titanic dive.

I was educated in top Catholic Universities, owned two successful businesses, and spent the last 25 years of my 70 in journalism. My background, education, training, and living my life to the fullest, have given me the opportunity to live and study key factors that will change my life – factors over which I can have little, if any, control.

The current economic situation has been building for decades and neither political party has clean hands.

When I returned from military duty in Southeast Asia, I quickly realized that this was no longer the world of my father. While I was gone, Presidents Kennedy and Johnson decided to reinvent the United States, within their interpretation of the Constitution, and that made me feel like an outsider.

Nixon, Ford and Carter continued to expand government services, increase government spending, and attempt to control our lives from cradle to grave.

Ronald Reagan first conceived the notion of not going to war to defeat the enemy, but rather outspend the enemy into complete economic collapse. It worked to a point. While succeeding in destroying the old Soviet Union, he lubricated the slippery slope of out-of-control spending, coupled with tax cuts, to achieve a victory that would become self-defeating.

Reagan’s successors, Bush 41, Clinton and Bush 43, followed suit. They got away with fiscal irresponsibility because America had recovered so quickly from its previous insane spending spree, and no one complained, as our leaders shoveled billions out to special interests.

Many Americans realized that this type of economic self-destruction couldn’t last forever so they foolishly had bought into the 2008 campaign promises of hope and change. But neither hope nor change was defined. The mere phrase of “hope and change” resonated with pro-Clinton followers and anti-Bush bashers.

President Obama quickly established an agenda to create change. But he never really offered any solid packages. Instead, he allowed Democrat congressional leaders to write the bills, line up the support and champion the causes, all the while taking bows. Predictably, Obama’s radical agenda of higher taxes, out-of-control spending, and massive government overreach, created an out-of-control government.

He of course was the figurehead, while Congress were the grunts in the field; they set the course, they provided the numbers, they provided the votes, and in a way it was a dual presidency. It is important to remember this because when it all collapses (and it will), there will be a lot of finger pointing. And don’t worry; there will be enough blame to go around for every elected official – federal, state and local.

The late Senator from Illinois, Everett McKinley Dirksen, was fond of saying, “a billion here – a billion there – pretty soon we are talking about real money.” He would use that line when talking about the wild spending of Congress. I wonder what he would think today about the trillions that we now spend – and owe?

How far we have sunk when the national debt is measured in multi-trillions and we have no clue when or how it ever can be paid off.

Taking a long hard look at today’s economy, I can see nothing but gigantic economic hurricanes ahead. These storm clouds are ominous and deadly. There are no shelters to offer protection or safe havens. If you think that Congress, the President, financial planners, or institutions will be the guiding lights, remember that they are the problem – not the solution.

When we don’t like what OPEC says, we silently say, “Let them drink their damn oil.” When we don’t like what the Arabs say, we silently say, “Let them eat their damn sand.” We say those things because we’re offended that they’re taking advantage of us.

When we falter and head into the largest and deepest depression in the history of the world, we will be unable to pay even the interest on our debt, much less the principal. Then the Asians will get stiffed, and they will be offended because we are taking advantage of them. It’ll be their turn to say about us, “Let them eat their damn money, and screw their democratic principals of freedom of religion, press and gun ownership.”

We laugh at Nero, who fiddled while Rome burned. But Americans are fiddling, wasting valuable resources debating Roe v. Wade, gay rights, civil unions, and immigration reform, when we should be balancing the federal checkbook.

If the madness doesn’t stop really very soon, the unlimited U.S. credit card will be cancelled, open lines of credit will be closed, and international trade will crumble. With what will we buy the oil to which we have become addicted? The dollar will be only somewhat more valuable than useless.

From where I stand and from what I can see, this massive depression could last 15 years or longer and there will be no World War or willing lenders to bail us out. Economic collapse will cause massive domestic foreclosures, lawlessness and skyrocketing crime, 25-35 percent unemployment, widespread starvation, escalating suicide rates, and untold numbers of killings.

Of course the rest of the world will not be immune to the U.S depression. It will soon spread to every nation and hamlet on the globe, further exacerbating existing tensions, insults and vendettas. The radicals will attack to further their insane agendas, and we won’t have the assets to counter. But that’s okay, because we will welcome them in the name of diversity.

The day of reckoning approaches.