What Is This World Coming To?

According to Breitbart.com,  the worst recession in 80 years,  perhaps the worst economic downturn in human history, and certainly the worst recession ever, (depending on who you ask) is almost over — already.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress Tuesday that the economy should pull out of a recession and start growing again later this year. But in testimony to Congress’ Joint Economic Committee, Bernanke warned that even after a recovery gets under way, economic activity is likely to be subpar. That means businesses will stay cautious about hiring, driving up the nation’s unemployment rate and causing “further sizable job losses” in the coming months, he said. Read the rest of this entry »

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told an audience Friday “never waste a good crisis,” and highlighted the opportunity of rebuilding economies in a greener, less energy-intensive way.

It was George Hegel who developed the dialectic that also bears the short name, “management by crisis”.  In Hegelian terms, an existing force (the thesis) generates a counterforce (the antithesis).

Conflict between the two forces results in the forming of a synthesis. Then the process starts all over again: Thesis vs. antithesis results in synthesis.

Clinton told young Europeans at the European Parliament that global economic turmoil provided a fresh opening. “Never waste a good crisis … Don’t waste it when it can have a very positive impact on climate change and energy security,” she said.

President Obama expressed equal dedication to Hegel’s dialectic calling the mounting economic crisis a time to discover America’s next “great opportunity.”

The speech was framed as offering a “hopeful vision” but the “hopeful vision” being offered stands in sharp contrast to the policies being advanced.

Noted the great mind of Victor Davis Hanson, ” the government apparently doesn’t only want to free up credit to get us back to our profligate habits of borrowing what we don’t have so we can buy what we don’t need. It also would like to create new programs to build infrastructure; guarantee new loans; and offer additional credits, bailouts and entitlements.

Or in the words of incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.”