Below The Beltway

Not surprisingly, it’s fairly clear that nobody in Washington seems to know what they’re doing to the economy:
The head of a new Congressional panel set up to monitor the gigantic federal bailout says the government still does not seem to have a coherent strategy for easing the financial crisis, despite the billions it has already [...]

Apparently, we’ve been in a recession for a year now:
It’s official: The United States is in a recession — and it started a year ago.
The nation’s economy peaked, and the recession began, in December 2007, the National Bureau of Economic Research announced today.
The group’s Business Cycle Dating Committee, the semi-official arbiter of these things, defines [...]

So far, the financial bailout is the most expensive thing the United States Government has ever done:
In doing the research for the “Bailout Nation” book, I needed a way to put the dollar amounts into proper historical perspective.
If we add in the Citi bailout, the total cost now exceeds $4.6165 trillion dollars.
(…)
Crunching the inflation [...]

This morning, the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Board announced a new program designed to do nothing less than prop up America’s mountain of debt:
The federal government unveiled $800 billion in new loans and debt purchases on Tuesday, hoping another infusion of cash can help unfreeze troubled credit markets and make borrowing easier for [...]

We’re about to enter uncharted territory:
WASHINGTON – Budget hawks were aghast when the federal deficit hit a record $455 billion in fiscal 2008, more than double the previous year.
That figure could double again in 2009, to $1 trillion, but even balanced budget advocates are saying that may be the price we have to pay to [...]

Now that the Federal Government has bailed out Citibank for a second time, we’re in danger of entering dangerous and uncharted territory:
While Citigroup’s second multibillion-dollar rescue from Washington hit Wall Street like a shot of adrenaline on Monday, many analysts worried that the jolt would soon wear off. Citigroup has been stabilized, but the outlook [...]

Neil Cavuto has been doing a stand-up job of pointing out the foolishness in Washington during the bailout crisis, and he does a nice job holding his own against Ben “Bueller, Bueller” Stein:

From Campbell Brown’s CNN program last Thursday.
Part One:

Part Two:

If you’ve got any doubts about the lessons that Crap Sandwich, Son of Crap Sandwich, and the invisible Crap Sandwich are teaching Americans, well just read this:
Should you keep paying your mortgage?
If you have significant equity in your home, absolutely.
If you don’t, it’s getting harder to answer that question, especially when our government keeps giving [...]

According to the latest numbers, we still haven’t hit bottom:
Home sales dropped and prices plunged again in October, an indication that the pain currently pulsing through the housing market is not likely to abate soon.
Sales of previously owned homes fell 3.1 percent for the month to an annual rate of 4.98 million, according to the [...]