I'll be brief and to the point: You know things are getting worse in America when the bad old days have become the good old days. I've been strongly opposed to runaway deficit spending--far exceeding that from the Bush years, it should be added--from the very start. With each passing month, critics like me are being vindicated that the US has taken the wrong turn. Consider:
- Geithner should not dump on Bush so much for the massive deficits since he and his boss have already had the chance to introduce a budget of their own. Eventually, you must own up for what you've done. Or, in this case, not managed to do. Basically, growth has not been sufficient to generate additional employment at the margin;
- What's that saying about sinking ships? Christina Romer (now formerly head of the Council of Economic Advisers), who cheerfully adopted the line that things were getting better for so long, has now resigned for understandable reasons. This follows Peter Orszag of the Office of Management and Budget heading for the door.
- So we've had American zero-interest rate policy for quite some time now. Results are nowhere to be found. They're already giving money away for practically for free, and yet nothing much is happening, especially in the employment arena. All I can say is, they're better of listening to a man who makes sense like Jean-Claude Trichet.
- Speaking of whom, the Euro is poised to slam past the £1.33 handle. Betting on America instead of Europe is a fool's game, and I sure hope those fools who did lost a lot of money. It serves them right.