for being the purveyor of rationality and saneness and just plain reasonableness that you are. I, too, hope that the administration's gamble will turn out in hindsight to have been very prudent. In the meantime, keeping my fingers crossed for a continually weakening GOP(and BlueDog Dems) so that Obama's policies have a better chance of success.

We're doing it anyway. Who ever is still in the middle class in 5 years can pay for it.

A great idea if economic growth is likely to "un-do" the borrowing. This is what happened in the Clinton years.

If, like me, one belives that the economy will stabilize at a lower level of output and stay there, the borrowing is very dangerous. Best case is very unpleasant inflation and all the associated unrest. Worst case is that the US loses reserve currency status and is game-over fucked.

The ONLY reason we can even debate about whether to try to deficit-spend our way out of a debt-bubble is that we are presently able to cheaply borrow money in a currency we control. If that changes, look for a very different reality for our next recession. When non-reserve countries get into trouble, austerity is required, not debated.

At some point obama is going to have to face the fact that in order to fix this mess he's going to have to take the money to do it back from the folks who have been stealing from the rest of us all of these years and bring back the top marginal income tax.

A world stock market collapse could be imminent as a source of dollar support. We wonder how low they will let the dollar go before they collapse the stock markets to chase people back into US treasuries, which have also broken down, with treasury interest rates on the rise despite various Fed purchases of treasuries in the hundreds of billions. So much for the bogus stress tests as things turn much uglier than anticipated by the boneheads in Goldman Sachs South who are attempting to resurrect the Goldilocks Matrix. (MORE)

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=10554

Insiders Selling At A Furious Pace

http://www.businessinsider.com/insider-selling-at-a-furious-pace-2009-5

The selling has become even more alarming in the last week and the buying has slowed to an absolute trickle.

http://pragcap.com/more-on-insider-selling

While we're imagining what would have happened if the Obama administration hadn't just paved the road toward doubling the national debt, we can imagine what the world would be like if government policies actually resulted in the invention of anything. That would be quite a world indeed.

Thankfully, the signs are out there that people aren't so keen on this vision now that their money is actually being taken from them, so I'm hopeful that this can be stopped before it's too late, because the math doesn't add up, and it will take taxes on a lot more than just "the rich" to pay for this bill.

The best thing that our President can do for the healthcare industry is exactly what he did a couple of days ago: get the players together and scare them into fixing their own mess. Ditto with energy. And then put the trillions back in the bank, so we can pay off these loans to China when they come due.

"we can imagine what the world would be like if government policies actually resulted in the invention of anything. That would be quite a world indeed."

Umm, indeed it would. What are you reading Salon on? The internet is a direct result of government policies.

Again with the proof. No, markets are very good at predictions, but proof? I don't think so.

By definition, bubbles are proof that markets make mistakes, and sometimes horrendous ones.

Where were you for the last 8 years while that little coke sniffing wannabe cowboy WAS more than doubling the national debt? At least THIS president is actually spending some of the money hes having to borrow (entirely because of a depression caused by his predecessor by the way) on the American middle and working classes instead of foriegn adventures and tax cuts for the wealthy few.

The scary thing is that the previous administration doubled the debt during the eight years of relative prosperity; $5.7 trillion on January 20, 2001 to $10.6 trillion on January 20, 2009 (http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np). Unfortunately, most of that money was blown up in Iraq or given to hedge fund managers, bankers, and corporate CEOs. Now, having left the economy in the dumps and lacking any power or responsibility, the Right has suddenly re-discovered fiscal conservatism. I know I shouldn't be, but I am continually shocked by their hypocrisy.

Nevertheless, I am concerned about the size of the debt and the projections for the next 10 years. It is my hope that there is a difference between spending on investments versus the wasted spending as seen over the last eight years. If we enter the 2020's with an affordable healthcare system, self-sufficient green energy, and a forward-looking transportation system the increase in the debt may be worth it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

1) The internet is a direct result of some enterprising people using their noodles and inventing it, not because of Al Gore. Sure, there was a desire to enable various government agencies to talk to each other, but a politician making a speech doesn't cause something to become reality. New technolgies arrive quickest when the government steps aside and lets the people who actually know how to do things do them.

2) I didn't like George and Co.'s spending either, but the new gang in town is rocketing past his spending limits without even slowing down.

Just because I'm critical of what's happening now doesn't mean I approved of what happened before. It's important to focus on the pros and cons of current events, and not just take the position that they're "better than what happened before".

is organizing the affairs of the nation so they don't crash.

can't think why that's impossible, unless it's so that a few greedy people can have the freedom to loot the economy?