Was everybody in the country born yesterday?

Look here, ye fool Democrats in Congress and ye corporate media yammerers: the "threat" to the economy is not that investment banks and hedge fund managers are going broke. The basic problem -- which is not a threat, but a current reality -- is that we've been living on borrowed money and we have to pay it back. That means, no matter what anybody does, Americans will have to consume less. Our standard of living is going to fall. Our asset prices are inflated and that means stock prices and real estate prices are going to stagnate, at best, for a while. That will happen. Nothing can stop it.

The scenario can vary in important ways, in particular in how the burdens are distributed among rich and middle class and poor; and in whether we work and invest sensibly to improve our situation in the future. If we keep blowing money on military adventures and trying to dominate the world through force, we've got no chance. We have even less chance if we borrow another 2 trillion dollars to save the bacon of a lot of rich, Ayn Rand-worshiping greedheads from the consequences of their own folly.

Democrats: Do not vote for the bailout! Do not give George W. Bush any legislation that he is willing to sign! The people don't want you to, and they will blame you. Do not succumb to threats! Do not succumb to blackmail! No, no, no!