It's been in the back of my head for two years that a natural disaster

[hedgehog]

such as Katrina could spring up out of nowhere to shake up this election. Now, I'm wondering if it will be an economic meltdown. My parents are still around and they grew up during the Depression. They're getting worried.

I wasn't really aware of the Glass-Steagall Act until a few weeks ago, and I certainly wasn't aware that Clinton repealed it in 1993. I grew up thinking that all the safeguards FDR put in would keep another Depression from happening. Now I'm wondering how many other protections we've lost in the de-regulation frenzy of the last 15 years.

[99th_Monkey]

1. Either one works to "declare an emergency" and call off democracy forever

see Bush's infamous "Directive 51". where even "economic" reasons are included to declare martial law. Remember that?

... you know, Bush's "Continuity of Gov't Plan" with all the details "classified" and "top secret" .. even to members of Congress.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070509-12.html

[madeline_con]

2. There will be another "attack" and DUH-bya will declare martial law.

National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive

NATIONAL SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE/NSPD 51

HOMELAND SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE/HSPD-20

Subject: National Continuity Policy

(6) The President shall lead the activities of the Federal Government for ensuring constitutional government. In order to advise and assist the President in that function, the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism (APHS/CT) is hereby designated as the National Continuity Coordinator. The National Continuity Coordinator, in coordination with the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (APNSA), without exercising directive authority, shall coordinate the development and implementation of continuity policy for executive departments and agencies. The Continuity Policy Coordination Committee (CPCC), chaired by a Senior Director from the Homeland Security Council staff, designated by the National Continuity Coordinator, shall be the main day-to-day forum for such policy coordination.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070509-12.html

[hedgehog]

3. Somehow, when you're out of work, everything else is secondary.

No terorist is as scary as being laid off at 45.

[Tulkas]

6. Laid off at 44 here

I will be 45 in april, I support Obama




Anyways, I think Bush is so afraid of a Recession on his watch that he will do almost anything to keep it from happening.

The only thing that some people believe has not been a total disaster under Bush is the economy. (I disagree, I think it is a disaster too)

His only slim chance of not being the worst president in history (and I think he defiantly is) is to keep the economy moving while he is in office.

Another Run Out The Clock Tactic.


If we do have a recession it should be shallow.



*Edit* I may have given the wrong impression, I am laid off atm but will be back to work in late March. Not quite as bad as I may have implied.

[madeline_con]

7. There is no terrorist, the attack would be an inside job to keep

DUH-bya in power. To me, that's way scarier than losing my job.

[ben_thayer]

8. Don't remind me...

I find out next Wednesday if I still have a job.
I'm 56.

:scared:

[China_cat]

9. Getting laid off at 50 is worse

As my husband did. Took 2 years for him to get another job...at half the pay he had been making. (Actually a little less than half)

[Armstead]

4. That kind of thing is why the Clintons are wrong for the country

Financial deregulation is one of the reasons the economy has gotten so screwed up.

Bill Clinton was almost as complicit in that as the Bushes.

[patrice]

5. This is an economist whom Thom Hartman, on Air America Radio, talks to . . .

http://www.ravibatra.com/

He says a Depression is coming and he also has some ideas about how to react to it in his new book.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

10. Dr. Ravi Batra knows what he is talking about.

I have his book "The Great Depression of 1990" and I believe that the depression he describes in this book is what is finally happening now.

[patrice]

11. I just bought The Coming Golden Age, but have not started reading it yet.

It contains his proposals for what to do about what is going to happen. He says they'll hold it off until after the election, so as to give the Repuglican the best chance possible, but my big sister, who is very good with the market, says they have no reason to do that (because they're finished with the U.S.A. now) so it'll be before the election.

[PatSeg]

12. Guess I should have been an economist

because I've been saying it for at least two years. All the signs were there and one didn't have to look at the "numbers" to see it. Just go out into the real world and hear stories from real people. Lots of people are on the brink of losing everything.

[Muttocracy]

13. war, international incident, take your pick

many voters will go with the don't-change-party-horses-midstream philosophy of 4 years ago. Or the "GOP is better with the military" stereotype. Or the "they know how to deal with terror because they have already" crap.

Oh well, we got rid of all our candidates with foreign policy experience right around the time the GOP figured out they should support the only one of theirs with any. Oops.