High point reached, all downhill from here

The adjusted stimulus bill has passed both houses of Congress; Mr. Obama will sign it; everything will then come up roses.

Hardly. The stimulus is simply a gigantic pork barrel spending spree. The reasoning behind it is this: the country needs more spending (in Keynesian jargon, "aggregate demand"), so why not spend a gazillion dollars on our political allies, our political support groups, our contributors, and all of their aunts, uncles, and cousins whom they reckon out by dozens. All of this new spending, of course, is debt. Yes, we will live high on the hog on somebody else's money--until the money dries up. I like what the article below says: a record-busting stimulus plan. Well, yeah, since the last record-breaking stimulus plan in October. Remember that one? It certainly made all the difference in the world, didn't it? Between the two record busters, we're now about $1.5 trillion in the hole. As Paul Craig Roberts has asked, who's going to pay for all this stimulus? Not the Americans since we need it. Who else? And why?

The article calls this "shock and awe." Do you recall where that phrase came from? Some dimwit general coined it just before the Iraq invasion. That endeavor turned out well, too. The only real shock we're going to experience is the awe-inspiring economic wreckage the Depression of 2009 will inflict on all of us. Mr. Obama had his chance. He sealed his fate in October when he voted for the preposterous stimulus scheme of Mr. Bush; now he has a preposterous stimulus scheme all his own. The reviled Mr. Bush is hiding out in Crawford, Texas. Mr. Obama is at ground zero in the White House. Which will history tag as the worst American president? Will it be a tie?

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