Hurtling toward economic chaos

[bemildred]

Xpost with "Economy"

When my old gang and I were 14 or 15 years old, many centuries ago, we yearned for immortality in the fiery wreck of a '40 Ford or '57 Chevy. Our J. K. Rowling was Henry Gregor Felsen, the ex- Marine who wrote the 1950s bestselling masterpieces "Hot Rod," "Street Rod" and "Crash Club."

His books — highly praised by the National Safety Council — were deterrents to unsafe driving, meant to scare my generation straight with huge dollops of teenage gore. In fact, he was our asphalt Homer, praising doomed teenage heroes and inviting us to emulate their legend.

One of his books ends with an apocalyptic collision at a crossroads in a small Iowa town, and the deaths of the teens are graphically described. We loved this passage so much that we used to read it aloud to one another.

It's hard not to think of the great Felsen, who died in 1995, while browsing the newspaper these days. There, after all, are the "tea party" Republicans, accelerator punched to the floor, grinning like demons as they approach Deadman's Curve. (John Boehner and David Brooks, in the back seat, are of course screaming in fear.)

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-davis-crashclub-20110726,0,448545.story

[Speck Tater]

1. K&R nt

[Jefferson23]

2. From the OP:

Let me reprise the obvious but seldom discussed. Even if debt-limit doomsday is averted, President Obama has already hocked the farm and sold the kids. With breathtaking contempt for the liberal wing of his own party, he has offered to put the sacrosanct remnant of the New Deal safety net on the auction block to appease a hypothetical "center" and win reelection at any price. (Dick Nixon, old socialist, where are you now that we need you?)

As a result, like the Phoenicians in the Bible, we'll sacrifice our children (and their schoolteachers) to Moloch, now called Deficit. The bloodbath in the public sector, together with an abrupt shut-off of unemployment benefits, would negatively multiply through the demand side of the economy until joblessness is in the teens and Lady Gaga is singing "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" (end)



With no intention on his part, Obama may be flipping the switch to on for fueling a version of an Arab Spring
in the U.S.'s future.

The policies are so tightly wound up and produce nothing sustainable for the future, he knows this, yet here we
are.

[bemildred]

3. Current ruling elites are always taken by surprise by revolts and revolutions.

It borders on being a tautology. That is in answer to your implied inquiry as to whether he intends/knows what he is doing or not. I think not, but he ought to.

[Jefferson23]

4. Agreed and kick. n/t

[Hawkowl]

5. Awesomely eloquent

That is a beautifully prescient vision of what is, and what is to come.