Someone Cue "Always Look On the Bright Side of Life"...

Reps. Jeb Hensarling and Paul Ryan take to the WSJ Op-Ed pages to tell us exactly what I've been telling the highly select audience of NBfPB for months now like a bloody broken record (like here for example). It is almost as if they've been reading this blog! That, or the conclusions are so self-evident that normal, halfway intelligent people (but just not Democrats) can separately diagnose our economic ills and come to the same conclusion. Even annoying, liberal WSJ reporter Gerry Seib can see the yawning gap that has grown between Washington, the Obama administration and the business community and can figure out that businesses won't hire when they are getting crapped all over and massive uncertainty over damaging legislation hangs in the air. (Although Gerry goes on to draw some silly conclusions such as "Obama crapping on businesses hurts education" and "Obama crapping on business hurts the deficit." Clueless.)

I saw all this and made a prediction about 10% unemployment and I was right. Based on what I have seen the last few months I am upping the ante - employment will hit 12% in Obama's first term. It may even hit 11% by the midterm elections next year. By mid-year next year updates to the deficit picture will make the current horror show look rosy. Americans will be shocked to their core when they see the state of our nation's finances come the second half of 2010. Similarly, one or two large states (New York and California most likely) will have a fiscal crisis that is akin to bankruptcy, although states technically can't really go bankrput. Meanwhile the healthcare bill will have passed amid raging anger among the populace. Afghanistan will remain a stalemate and the KSM trial will be getting underway in NYC. I wish it were otherwise, but I fear Carter-era malaise will arrive in full force this time next year. Forget about the political ramifications, those are small potatoes. I fear social unrest. The clashes at UCLA earlier this week may be just the beginning. Hold on tight America.

N.B. I am a incurable optimist by nature and I have believed, up until now, that we would right our ship using the highly flexible corrective mechanisms of our democracy. I no longer feel that way. Metaphorically, I think we are having another national bout of alcoholism - drunk on unreality - and we'll need to hit rock bottom before we can reverse course. Sorry, folks, but when DB turns pessimistic, it's bad.