THE END OF THE WORLD IS NEAR?

Let's get the word out!

According to some (Harry Reid, for example) we are doomed to enter another Great Depression.

Gloom about the economy is everywhere.

Hopelessness reigns...hence the election of the Great Purveyor of Hope, Barack Obama.

Soup lines are in our future and people will be jumping out in front of parked cars.

Let's put an ice pack on our heads so that cooler heads can prevail (If ice is still available).

The Great Depression took place from 1930 to 1939.

So what took place during The Great Depression?

Here are some facts (I have not made these up...they are from primary sources such as government archives [totally trustworthy, after all], http://www.pbs.org/nbr/site/onair/transcripts/081231f/, http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/national/gdp/gdpnewsrelease.htm and others.

Stock prices fell over 40%.

Are stock prices down 40% down today?

On October 29 "Black Tuesday," stock market losses for the month totalled $16 billion, an astronomical sum in those days.

On December 31, 2008, the Dow jumped 108 points with the blue chip average closing at 8,776 (that's UP...by the way).

About 60% of banks failed by 1933.

Have 60% of banks failed today?

Around 86,000 businesses failed during The Great Depression.

Have 86,000 businesses failed today?

Wages fell by 60%.

Didn't we just have a minimum wage increase?

By 1933, unemployment stood at 24.9%.

Do we have 24.9% unemployment today (or is it closer to 7.4%)?

The Gross National Product shrank by 13.4% in 1932.

Has the GNP today shrunk by 13.4% (or is it a fact that the second quarter of 2008 saw an increase of 2.1% and decreased from that amount only .2% in the third quarter of 2008)?

And did the Gross DOMESTIC Product rise 3.4% in the third quarter of 2008 or not? (Hint: It did)

OK...that's enough.

What I'm getting at is this: we are in tough economic times. But only those whose mind-set is "gimmie what I want, and I want it all right now," would cry, whine and offer doom-and-gloom predictions about another "Great Depression" just around the corner.

Can we afford to lose General Motors?

Well, we lost Studebaker. We lost Kaiser/Fraser. We lost Edsel (oh, yeah...that was a Ford Motor Company thing).

But those who think that The United States of America cannot afford to lose ANY badly operated company are the essence of idiocy (and that includes. but is not limited to: Barney Frank, Harry Reid, Maxine Waters, and now, perhaps, Al Frankin AND the messiah, once he is in office).

We will get through this housing slump, this stock market jiggle, this banking scare, this auto industry struggle and emerge on the other side with flying colors, iff (for those of you whose education did not get you past the 1864 third grade level of knowledge, "iff" is a term used in the social sciences to mean, "if and only if), the government gets out of the way and lets the markets do their very powerful thing.

Hmmm. Now that I think about that last qualifying premise, maybe it is time to P A N I C!!!!