You Will Bury You

Okay, if you think the outlook from the Whitehouse has been unduly gloomy, they've got nothing on this guy:

If you're inclined to believe Igor Panarin, and the Kremlin wouldn't mind if you did, then President Barack Obama will order martial law this year, the United States will split into six rump-states before 2011, and Russia and China will become the backbones of a new world order.

This sounds a lot like someone I've written about before, but I can't find the post. I'd like to think this fellow is wrong. There are certainly those who hold the opposite view:

But Alexei Malashenko, a scholar-in-residence at the Carnegie Moscow Center who did not attend the lecture, sided with the skeptical instructor, saying Russia is the country that is on the verge of disintegration.

"I can't imagine at all how the United States could ever fall apart," Malashenko told the AP.

I can. Though America has proven quite resilient in times past, I don't think any country is immune to collapse if enough people are no longer interested in keeping it together. They don't even have to consciously work for it, just stop espousing the ideals that have held us together thus far under the guise of "enlightenment" and the cracks will start to appear.

They're already appearing.

Uh Oh, Buck!

Didn't I predict this? Even the New York Times is noticing that the Stimulus Bill is quickly becoming a Trojan Horse for everything the Democrats want to accomplish but wouldn't be able to without a fight. More here, from The Heritage Foundation.

UPDATE: The Wall Stree Journal weighs in with their analysis of the bill. To the Democrats this isn't a recession. This is Christmas.

Not-So-Good Economic Predictions

Don't count on the economy improving very quickly. According to Forbes.com:

The recession will continue until at least the end of 2009 for a cumulative gross domestic product drop of over 4%; the unemployment rate will likely reach 9%. The U.S. consumer is shopped-out, saving less and debt-burdened: This will be the worst consumer recession in decades.

They summarize a series of articles, all pointing to things getting worse before they get better.

Have a nice day!