Connecting the Dots

OK, the U.S. has a balance of trade problem. On one hand, the minimum wage will stay the same at its current low level, but bankruptcy laws are to be tightened significantly. That means consumption is to be penalized. Not only that, Greenspan wants to tax consumption, cut Social Security benefits, and make the Bush tax cuts permanent.

So, it sounds like the way we are to solve the U.S.'s balance of trade problem is for the American middle class to stop consuming so much. Yet it's the same American middle class that is the engine for prosperity in the world. It's a chicken-and-egg dilemma, and we are going to find out what breaks first: the trade deficit, or prosperity.

Sounds like a recession - a planned recession - is coming!