This summer, the IRS rewarded Nicolas Cage for his “efforts” with a $6 million tax lien on his New Orleans’ properties for unpaid taxes. So the IRS, lead by tax cheat Timothy Geithner, is cracking down on Nicolas Cage for unpaid taxes. How ironic. Or perhaps, “how fitting” would be a better way to put it. After all, I think Tim Geithner, our spend-happy congress, the Federal Reserve, George Bush and Barack Obama can give Nicolas Cage a run for his money (what little is left of it) when it comes to irresponsible spending. Honestly, look at what our government has been doing:

The drop in the trade-weighted dollar index was led by the dollar’s 16% depreciation against the Canadian dollar, and a 12% decline against the euro. So watch for traveling Canadians towards the end of the summer; it’s getting nice and cheap for them to come visit.

The prestigious Onion News Network reports President Obama has decided to cut spending, but not with stimulus dollars or TARP. Rather, Obama pulls the plug on plans to develop billion dollar dragon tank.

But if the economy doesn’t turnaround in a meaningful way by the end of President Obama’s first term, what is the next move for central planners? Just when you think they’ve ran out of bullets, they pull out a golden gun. Could the next move be a nudge towards a cashless society? Whispers of such an about-face have turned into legitimate policy debates in Japan. The total shift to electronic money would be designed, and sold to the Japanese people, as a way to fight the deflationary spiral they’ve battled for a decade plus (coined “the lost decade”). Nothing scares the central bankers more than deflation. And nothing works better to push through policy than fear. Americans have learned all about fear mongering through both the Bush and Obama administrations.

With news of a “pay czar” coming down the shoot, this makes upward of 20 such top officials who answer directly, and only, to President Obama. These people may claim executive privilege, while simultaneously working free from the checks and balances of the legislative and judicial branches of government. In addition, it adds to a growing pool of unelected officials in Washington, who have no reason to be accountable to citizens.

It doesn’t seem like the Fed’s style to send taxpayers a check funded by equity or profits.

The May numbers are out and the United States lost over 500,000 jobs last month. The Dow Jones may have rebounded some, but every liberal, and most conservatives, will tell you that just affects those evil rich people. Average folks are still losing their jobs despite bailout after stimulus after bailout, etc.

By far and away the most common explanation for the current crisis is the relaxed lending standards in the mortgage market, which caused a housing bubble, collapsing the financial system in upon its deregulated self. In this first part, of my multi-part series on the financial crisis, I will evaluate this claim. Did deregulation cause our economy to collapse? The answer is, well kinda.

…from what I have gathered, our current president believes we need to change a few things. Well, I agree with him. I thought President Bush was a disaster. Unfortunately, though, other than the ridiculous hero worship and cult of personality that Obama’s got going, it really doesn’t seem like much of anything is changing.

Trust matters in economics. An economy is nothing more than people interacting with people.