It only feels that way CAR, it’s actually nothing out of the norm and nothing we wont survive. I actually had a lengthy discussion with my son last night as I helped him with his homework. It’s amazing how beneficial it is to an adult to relive their education through their children, you learn so much more the second time through. The lad made a huge mistake, he asked his ubergeek dad about adam smith, karl marx, socialism, and a few other topics. That was at 6 p.m., at 11:15, we finished. I went into Phil Jackson, zen master mode, and the prodigal son made me proud for noticing something I never did. After we recount economic cycles of the last few hundred years, in different parts of the world, he made the profound observation that as time wears on, the cycles are the same but the consequences become milder. As history progressed, the consequences of the down cycles became less life threatening.

Of course he wasn’t as eloqunet as his old man, I believe he made mention that during downturns in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, people died of starvation. Nowadays, regardless of how bad things get, people still eat, in fact, many poor people are fat, even homeless people are fat.

Maybe I wasn’t so proud of that observatoin but it is one I would have never noticed without his help. We are in our generation’s “new deal.” We are all still eating fine, we may not be able to roll on 22″ rims, but were fine. And as Cabal pointed out, government intervention is not only not new, it’s never not present. Same product, different wrapper.