Economy & Jobs

George Bush with an assist from the 'It Regulates Itself' Republicans is doing to the country what he did to Harken Oil. From Reuter's:

Because every good crisis deserves a name:

This is the third time in 100 years that support for taken-for-granted economic ideas has crumbled. The Great Depression discredited the radical laissez-faire doctrines of the Coolidge era. Stagflation in the 1970s and early '80s undermined New Deal ideas and called forth a rebirth of radical free-market notions. What's becoming the Panic of 2008 will mean an end to the latest Capital Rules era.

Apparently according to Credit Counselor Stephanie Bittner on the Newshour this evening, all we're doing -- due to hard times -- is staying home and looking at the walls:

Screwed-up war, screwed-up economy - should anyone be surprised?

Americans are more dissatisfied with the country’s direction than at any time since the New York Times/CBS News poll began asking about the subject in the early 1990s, according to the latest poll. [NY Times]

Naturally when the Wall Street Journal calls this a 'Lost Decade', they're referring to the stock market:

Grim economic picture painted by columnist Jane Bryant Quinn on Friday's edition of Newshour:

Clearly, we're in a recession. We're going to have job problems. We've got difficulties with the mortgages....

Foreclosures are at record rates. People look around and they see foreclosed homes on their blocks and they see nothing but trouble ahead.