The U.S. Government Prepares for a Crisis

Jeff Nielson TheStreet.com August 27, 2010

Most market reporters, commentators and politicians continue to rely upon nothing but the same short-term "snapshots" which have caused them to be "surprised" by everything. However, it is a safe conclusion that even such rampant incompetence (combined with a strong "herd mentality"), could not and does not mean that the entire U.S. government remains in an oblivious state of ignorance regarding this re-acceleration of the collapse of the U.S. economy.

The answer is also obvious. As I pointed out when I originally denounced the Obama stimulus package, it was never anything more than a bad joke. The combination of the collapse of the U.S. housing sector, massive unemployment, and the largest credit-contraction in the history of the U.S. economy had combined to subtract approximately $2 trillion per year in consumer spending from this consumer economy. The response of the Obama regime to this scenario was a one-time injection of $780 in stimulus, spread out over more than a year. Obviously, you can't replace $2 trillion with less than $800 billion and call it stimulus. Add Comment Tweet 1 2 3 4 Last » Next › var OutbrainPermaLink='http://www.thestreet.com/story/10845327/us-government-prepares-for-crisis.html'; var OB_Template = "thestreetcom"; var OB_demoMode = false; var OBITm = "1276003897985"; var OB_langJS ='http://widgets.outbrain.com/lang_en.js'; if ( typeof(OB_Script)!='undefined' ) OutbrainStart(); else { var OB_Script = true; var str = ''; document.write(str); } adsonar_placementId=1341527;adsonar_pid=879768;adsonar_ps=-1;adsonar_zw=600;adsonar_zh=280;adsonar_jv='ads.adsonar.com'; Featured Photo Galleries var galljs = document.createElement('script'); galljs.src = 'http://js.thestreet-static.com/files/tsc/v2008/js/_1282862220100/min/pages/gallery.js'; var head = document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0]; head.appendChild(galljs); Go to Slideshow Archive Business News From The Web 3PAR Bidding Hits $1.88 Billion The Wall Street Journal. Boeing Postpones Dreamliner Delivery The Wall Street Journal. European Stocks Fluctuate Before Bernanke Speech; EADS Declines BusinessWeek Online Flow of imports drags down economic growth Washington Post Are lenders "procrastinating" on foreclosures? Calculated Risk Gold Demand to Surge in Vietnam as Dong, Stocks Slump BusinessWeek Online Balancing act BBC Blockbuster said to be planning a bankruptcy filing Los Angeles Times A Big Surprise: Troubled Assets Garner Rewards New York Times Charges Settled Over Fake Reviews on iTunes New York Times More Headlines TheStreet Premium Services Compare All Services Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS: Now any level of investor can trade right alongside a Wall Street pro — and enjoy 24/7 access to his portfolio! Learn More Login RealMoney Silver: Get Doug Kass's exclusive trading diary + 5 of TheStreet's top premium services including Action Alerts PLUS and RealMoney — all on one streamlined page. Learn More Login Stocks Under $10: Break into the market with small- and mid-cap stocks... all $10 or less! David Peltier tells you exactly which low-priced stocks he's buying and selling. Learn More Login OptionsProfits: Get 50+ trade ideas a week from the industry's top options experts. Plus — exclusive commentary on market trends and essential trading tools. Learn More Login Breakout Stocks: Find tomorrow's household names today. Bryan Ashenberg finds hidden gems in exciting up-and-coming markets that he believes are ready to break out! Learn More Login RealMoney Portfolio PLUS ETF Action Daily Swing Trade Market Movers ETF Shark Alerts TheStreet Ratings Top Gun Trader Top Stocks try { function DM_onSegsAvailable(segs, cust_id) { for(var i=0;i //* Global Functions *// function metadataRegisterNS(ns){ var nsParts = ns.split("."); var root = window; for(var i=0; i Dow Jones S&P 500 NASDAQ 10-Year Note 10127.34 1059.8 2141.58 26.41 Oil * 76.13 UP 141.53 UP 12.58 UP 22.89 UP 1.42 10 Yr 2.64% SPDR Gold 120.85 1.42% 1.2% 1.08% 5.68% Data delayed 20 minutes Latest Trade Alerts See all function renderFeedContent(data){ for(var i=0; i < 2; i++){ document.write('' + data[i].headline +''); document.write('' + data[i].productName+' ($) - ' + data[i].publishDate + ''); document.write('

'+ data[i].callout +'

'); } } adsonar_placementId=1341369;adsonar_pid=879768;adsonar_ps=-1;adsonar_zw=320;adsonar_zh=280;adsonar_jv='ads.adsonar.com'; Brokerage Partners YAHOO.util.Event.on(window,"load",function(){ setTimeout(function(){ TSCM.util.attachScript('scr_intellitxt','http://thestreet.us.intellitxt.com/intellitxt/front.asp?ipid=10685'); },1200); }); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + (document.location.protocol == "https:" ? "https://sb" : "http://b") + ".scorecardresearch.com/beacon.js' %3E%3C/script%3E")); var beaconurl=""; if(TSC.util.isDefined(document)){ beaconurl=document.URL; try{ if (top.location != self.location){ beaconurl=document.referrer; } }catch(e){} } COMSCORE.beacon({ c1:2, c2:"6036014", c3:"", c4:beaconurl, c5:"", c6:"", c15:"" }); var pvar = { cid: "us-thestreet", content: "tsc", server: "secure-us" }; var trac = nol_t(pvar); trac.record().post(); Free Newsletters from TheStreet

After the Bell

Before the Bell

Booyah! Newsletter

ETF Daily

Midday Bell

TSC Top Ten Stories Newsletter

Winners & Losers

We respect your privacy. Manage Newsletters Podcasts [Select Podcast] The Real Story Wall Street Confidential Podcast Daily RSS Updates

TheStreet Mobile Edition

Connect with TheStreet

YAHOO.util.Event.on(window,"load",function() { try { var loginlink = YAHOO.util.Dom.get("logonoff"); var cookie = new UserStatus().streetCookie; if(cookie.indexOf('|')== -1){ loginlink.setAttribute("href",""); loginlink.innerHTML = "Log In"; } } catch(e) {} }); TheStreet Corporate | Home | About Us | Advertise | Customer Service | Employment | Privacy Policy | Sitemap | Topic Archive | Terms of Use document.write('

Quotes delayed at least 20 minutes for all exchanges. Market Data provided by Interactive Data. Company fundamental data provided by Morningstar. Earnings and ratings provided by Zacks. Mutual fund data provided by Valueline. ETF data provided by Lipper. Terms & Conditions. Powered and implemented by Interactive Data Managed Solutions.

TheStreet Ratings updates stock ratings daily. However, if no rating change occurs, the data on this page does not update. The data does update after 90 days if no rating change occurs within that time period.

IDC calculates the Market Cap for the basic symbol to include common shares only. Year-to-date mutual fund returns are calculated on a monthly basis by Value Line and posted mid-month.

*Oil Data in Market Overview is Brent Crude Pricing

'); TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.sz = "728x90"; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.resetTargets(); TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.calltype = "adj"; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.includeDcopt = true; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.additionalTargeting = ";;storytype=opinion;kval=opinion"; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.writeTag(); TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.sz = "233x224"; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.resetTargets(); TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.calltype = "adj"; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.adtype = "cau"; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.additionalTargeting = ";;storytype=opinion;kval=opinion"; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.writeTag(); TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.sz = "336x280,336x850,300x250,468x648"; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.resetTargets(); TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.calltype = "adj"; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.additionalTargeting = ";;storytype=opinion;kval=opinion;;storytype=opinion;kval=opinion"; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.writeTag(); TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.sz="336x280,300x250"; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.resetTargets(); TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.setSite("remnant.thestreet.com"); TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.additionalTargeting=";box=second"; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.calltype="adj"; TSCM.ads.AdPlacerx.writeTag(); /** * function wrapper that places all DART ads using TSCM.ads.positionToPlaceholder * if positionToPlaceholder can't find the elements specified, it just returns and is ready for the next call */ TSCM.ads.placeLazyLoadingAds = function() { // DART 1 (banner) TSCM.ads.positionToPlaceholder({ ad: 'ad728x90', placeholder: 'bannerContainer', flexibleHeight: false }); //DART 2 TSCM.ads.positionToPlaceholder({ ad: 'customUnit', placeholder: 'cauContainer', flexibleHeight: true }); //DART 3 TSCM.ads.positionToPlaceholder({ ad: 'boxAd', placeholder: 'boxAdContainer', flexibleHeight: true }); //DART 4 TSCM.ads.positionToPlaceholder({ ad: 'secondBoxAd', placeholder: 'secondBoxAdContainer', flexibleHeight: false }); }; TSCM.ads.placeLazyLoadingAds() window.setTimeout(function() { TSCM.ads.placeLazyLoadingAds() }, 2000); window.onresize = function() { setTimeout(function() { TSCM.ads.placeLazyLoadingAds(); }, 1000); }; YAHOO.util.event.onDOMReady( YAHOO.util.Dom.setStyle("lazyLoadedObjects", "visibility", "visible") ); var disqus_shortname = 'thestreet'; (function () { var s = document.createElement('script'); s.async = true; s.src = 'http://disqus.com/forums/thestreet/count.js'; (document.getElementsByTagName('HEAD')[0] || document.getElementsByTagName('BODY')[0]).appendChild(s); }()); /* */ NM_SmartSite_ID = '1001'; BF_BB_DATA = null; (function( ){ document.write(''); var sid="76IOF7"; var c=""; var b=""; BF_BB_SCRIPT=document.createElement('script'); BF_BB_SCRIPT.type="text/javascript"; BF_BB_SRC="http://buzzbox.buzzfeed.com/wd/BuzzBox?sid=" + sid + c + b + '&it=1&cb=' + (new Date()).getTime(); setTimeout(function() { document.getElementById('BF_BUZZBOX').appendChild(BF_BB_SCRIPT); BF_BB_SCRIPT.src=BF_BB_SRC; },1); })();