"People like you continue to pray for an economic meltdown."

This is a stupid thing to say.  I stand to lose considerable money in a meltdown, why would I "pray" for it?  I'm not praying, I'm preparing.  If I'm wrong I'll probably make a little less money, but if I'm right I'll save a lot.

For once in your life pull your head out of the Republican pigtrough and take a look at what's going on.  This is no "cyclical recession".  The rising cost of fuel is "cyclical"?  This "slowdown" is based on some very real problems, not on speculation like with the tech bubble.  Much of the continued growth of the last two decades is based on two things, low energy costs and consumer spending of borrowed money.  The bill is coming due.  I've been apprehensive about this for several years.   I've watched people I know buy big homes and very expensive gas guzzling cars and thought to myself, wow, these guys don't make any more than I do and they're not afraid to get into that kind of debt, surely this can all fall apart on them, what do they know that I don't?  The answer as it turns out: nothing.  I've watched more than one of them file for bankruptcy ahead of the changes in bankruptcy laws.  I've gone over and helped them try to get their houses in shape to sell.  Our government is exhibiting exactly the same behavior as these consumers and the people controlling it all think this is just swell.  And you wonder why I think we're fucked? 

In the run up to the war in Iraq I watched the Bush machine beat the drums for war with a mixture of feelings.  I hadn't considered Saddam a realistic threat to the US since the Gulf War, I considered him more of an aggravation and a nuisance.  I thought he was deliberately obscure about his weapons status because he was scared of Iran.  But I also told myself they have information that I don't have, surely they simply MUST know many things that I can't know about the weapons he possesses.  Colin Powell lent his credibility to their arguments and he really swayed me (the prick).  

So with all the vast information gathering organizations at their disposal how much more did they know about Saddam's weapons than I did?  Nothing.  As incredible as that statement seems to me even today my guess was more accurate than theirs.  He had in fact destroyed his WMDs, and in the recent 60 minutes episode where they interviewed Saddam's interrogator I found out I had been right about his motivations for keeping his mouth shut about it too.  I wish I had been blogging back in those days so I could point back to it, but I wasn't and I can't and I don't care, I know what I thought and that's what counts.

"One thing is for certain. You are absolutely the last guy on the planet I would go to for an economic forecast."

And I give a shit?  Surely I've made it clear what I think about your opinions.  I'll keep my own counsel from here on out, that I promise you.

I don't have time to address your last three questions right now but the short answer is that the options left to us are becoming fewer and fewer and none of them will probably change anything now.  Another 3 years of this and the "Republican" and "Democratic" options will be exactly the same - "declare victory" and go home.  What a meaningless waste of life and money.