From The Washington Times:

Pummeled by ghastly economic news, President Obama called Monday for more spending and extended tax cuts that he said would help stimulate the economy — but these also could deepen the deficit problems that helped the federal government earn its first-ever debt downgrade last week.

WE.

DON’T.

HAVE.

IT.

This is INSANITY.

BZ

Ladies and gentlemen, did I not predict this for the past two weeks?

Why yes, yes I did.

I wrote about it here and here and here.

You, me — we are all about to have a white-hot piece of Porkulus rebar (Part III) shoved violently and unremittently up our taxpaying sphincters. And you will not be asked or consulted if this may even remotely inconvenience — much less — pain you.

DC simply does not care.

From the Financial Times:

Fed forced to consider fresh stimulus

By Robin Harding in Washington

The US Federal Reserve’s meeting on Tuesday is likely to be one of its most difficult and divisive since, well, last August.

Sharply weaker economic data in recent weeks, a new peak in the eurozone debt crisis, and a downgrade to the triple A credit rating of the US have shaken confidence in a way that could spiral towards a new recession. The Fed will be forced to consider fresh stimulus in response.

A “fresh stimulus.” “FORCED” to consider a “fresh stimulus.”

This IS the personification, the definition, the extension of insanity:

Doing the same thing again and again and again and again and — miserably — “hopefully” (with some Change thrown in for crappy measure) expecting different results.

The goal — make no mistake whatsoever — is to replace our Republic with an Imperial Federal Government.

And ladies and gentlemen, we are completely enroute this goal.

Because so few Republicans have guts — save perhaps 22. Including Tom McClintock.

What makes anyone, anywhere, think that Mr Obama will suddenly experience his own personal and philosophical epiphany and exclaim: “my gosh, I was so wrong!”

There IS another “Porkulus” coming.

Porkulus 3.0.

BZ

Almost, but not quite yet.

There’s still more icing to be placed upon the US cake. . .

BZ

Our DOW lost over 600 points. From ABCNews.com:

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 600 points Monday after a one-two punch: the first-ever Standard & Poor’s downgrade of U.S. debt, then the downgrading of government-backed mortgage debt. The Dow’s one-day drop was its biggest point loss in a single day since Dec., 1 2008 and its sixth biggest point drop in its history.

The Dow closed down 634 points, the S&P 500 lost 79 points, and the Nasdaq ended 174 points lower, dropping almost 7 percent.

President Obama spoke this afternoon, saying the United States knew well before the S&P downgrade that it had a debt problem. “The U.S. will always be a triple-A country despite what rating agencies say,” he said.

The good news, he said, is the debt is a “solvable” problem that can be addressed through tax reform and spending cuts.

Investors don’t seem to agree. The Dow plunged an additional 100 points to hover around 500 after the president’s speech.

Today’s rout wiped out about $2.3 trillion in investor wealth in the United States.

As stocks reeled, gold surged today by $61 to $1,713 an ounce.

Question for you:

Do you believe the United States possesses the political will to halt the spending, put its fiscal affairs in order, and stave off a national and global economic crisis?

[ ] YES

[ ] NO

Please weigh in!

BZ

P.S.

“Today’s rout wiped out about $2.3 trillion in investor wealth in the United States.”

At this point, roughly mid-day,

– The DOW is down 500 points;

– Gold rose more than $70 an ounce;

And who is to blame?

Mr Obama & Minions says that the TEA Party is to blame (I was certain he’d go for Bush):

David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to President Obama, used the exact same phrase in dubbing the credit rating drop the “tea party downgrade,” as Democrats tried to position themselves as reasonable, pragmatic leaders and conservative Republicans as irresponsible ideologues who caused the downgrade by refusing to accept any new taxes.

Barney Frank blames our military (which, read correctly, is himself and DC):

WASHINGTON (AP) — The senior Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee says the biggest reason the United States is seeing its credit downgraded is that it spends too much money being “the military policemen of the world.”

Rep. Barney Frank tells CBS’s “The Early Show” that reining in defense spending is “going to be my mantra” for the next few months.

China blames DC spending and fiscal irresponsibility:

If the world’s largest debtor kept eating May’s grain in April and kept robbing Peter to pay Paul without fiscal discipline, eagerness to balance budget or effective efforts to boost sluggish economy, how can the creditors keep lending without doubts?

What else is happening?

– The S&P extends its US downgrade to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, etc;

– Moody’s is now threatening to do the same thing: AAA to AA+;

– S&P itself says there a good chance the US will be downgraded AGAIN;

– Gas prices are up despite Mr Obama having opened reserves (a stupid thing to do);

And what of the future?

It’s not happy. The One is not looking quite so god-like these days.

It’s just like an alcoholic, ladies and gentlemen: day-by-day.

BZ