In the wake of the collapse of the DJIA and the economic come-uppance to follow, a few points I want to make:
1) Even on blogs I read and respect (especially Paul Krugman), in comments from people I know (or at least believe) to be liberal/progressive, I keep seeing the phrase "If the Republicans had their way". The fact is, the Republicans HAD their way. That's why the economy is collapsing.
2) Obama is not on our side. His actions (which, as we all know, speak louder than words) have proven time and again that he is most willing to side with the Republicans on fiscal matters. It really doesn't matter if this is some lame attempt at appearing centrist, or bipartisan, or whatever the motivation; it's clear that Obama listens to conservative economic policy and ideology, and no matter the treachery or inescapable outcome, he will NOT listen to or abide the lessons of Keynesian economists. Even though, time and again, their predictions have been proven correct in this economic collapse. And when it comes to trying to negotiate deals with Congressional leaders, Obama was quite happy to stab his own party in the back with his naivete, his unwillingness to utilize the bully pulpit of the President, and his pathetic excuse for a poker face at the negotiating table. Behavior like this is most definitively either a complete ignorance of political gamesmanship, or he's actually an agent provocateur for the Republicans. There is simply NO OTHER EXPLANATION.
3) The jobs issue? It's dead in the water. With the further depressing of the financial markets, those so-called "job creators," as the Republicans like to call their wealthy, conservative, corporate masters, will go right back to the same tactics that created the recession in the first place: sequestering their wealth. They will have zero interest in spending their capital on job creation at this point, no matter what the past two years may have taught them, and us, about the realities of sequestration of wealth. And to make matters worse, Obama will go back to these unpatriotic Americans, hat in hand, and offer all sorts of tax breaks to encourage spending. They'll take the tax breaks, sure enough; but the spending will not follow. Grover Norquist will see to that.
4) This country is swiftly falling into the same trap Germany did in the 1920's. Social and political unrest, an ultra-extreme conservative faction with control of the propaganda channels, and intractable industry leadership.