At one point ER said that if the aggressive actions (mostly printing money) taken by the Bush administration could forestall the major elements of a depression until after the election it wouldn't be a bad one. Said theory is that a smaller financial downturn would respond to therapy.
And if Bush couldn't stall off a serious downturn until after the election, and hopefully the inauguration, it would be major. It seems they've pulled out all stops, blown all ballast tanks, it's full speed ahead with the planes up, the gauges (statistical indexes) rigged and it's still headed down. With 5 1/2 weeks until the election.
WASHINGTON - "Weekly jobless claims surged to the highest level in seven years, durable goods orders took a bigger-than-expected tumble and new home sales plunged to the slowest pace in 17 years, according to government data released Thursday.
"The latest trifecta of bad news about the economy raised new worries about a possible recession and underscored the concerns that are driving Congress and the White House to reach agreement on an historic bailout of the financial system."
Current Events » in reply to In the biggest bank failure in history, JPMorgan Chase will acquire massive branch network and troubled assets from Washington Mutual for $1.9 billion.
ER was right. "U.S. gets a triple dose of bad economic news as home sales tumble, jobless rate soars, durable goods orders plunge."