The Economy Killer

Serenity now! Serenity now! Stock up on potatoes and other foods with long shelf lives. The economy continues to tumble down the mountain of prosperity and with every new news article, the impression I get is that the economy is going to slam violently against a rock or a tree when it finally stops rolling. Over 500,000 lay-offs in the month of November, and many more are expected to come before 2009. 600,000 was the low-ball, idealistic estimate, but so was $700 billion in regards to the corporate bailouts. Now, the government is saying it's willing to spend $7 trillion to fix the problem.

The ripple of financial woe has finally made the recession official, and companies are actually firing people during the holiday season-even retail stores that typically hire more staff around this time. The signs are not good. California says it's going to run out of money by March 2009, which goes well beyond their annual budget problems they've had for years.

The government is justifying the $7 trillion, saying if they didn't throw billions at failing companies the whole economy would collapse. It's the cut-off-a-leg-to-save-the-body argument, and sure, we won't be able to walk after this ordeal is over but at least we'll still be alive! In a year when the citizens of this country showed a revitalized interest in politics, made history, and exhibited some of that good ole' American zeal that our country was famous for, we sure are getting smacked in the face with a lot of bad news in return.

All the corruption and greed-fueled decision making we've always suspected is finally surfacing like a dead body that came untied from the weight that held it to the bottom. Now we must figure out how to deal with the murder we were entirely unaware of. We must find the killer because he's out there and he will kill again.