@farmerman,
First of all, I must recount a rejoinder made to Pelosi from a political opponent( I don't remeber who it was)--Be good or I'll throw water on you and take your shoes--Perfect.
But, Mr. Farmerman has pointed out a serious problem. He thinks we will develop a depression of magnitude. He may, unfortunately, be correct, but he is not correct about our political world being divided. The Democrats control the House, President Obama will name two or perhaps three people to the Supreme Court and the Republicans are hanging on by a thread in the Senate.
Some say that the reason for the Depression of the thirties( it really lasted until 1937 when the Unemployment Rate was still 13.5 percent) was intervention--the lack of faith in the marketplace. Hoover ordered wages up when they wanted to go down. He allowed a disasterous tariff-The Smoot-Hawley Act. Roosevelt created regulatory aid, and relief agencies based n the premise that recovery could be achieved onlythrough a large militay style effort. Some of these changes were useful but, Roosevelt was set against business. He introduced a taxthe undistributed profits tax. The trouble was not merely the new policies but alsothe threat of additional unknown polices, FEAR FROZE THE ECONOMY.
(lASTPARAGRAPH DRAWN FROM-
Amity Shlaes--"The Forgotten Man"