Former federal moneyman not hopeful about our future

America has become a pretty discouraging place. Americans, for the most part, will never know what happened to them, because they no longer have a free and responsible press. They have Big Brother’s press. For example, on September 28, 2008, a New York Times editorial blamed the current financial crisis on “antiregulation disciples of the Reagan Revolution.” What utter nonsense. Every example of deregulation that the New York Times editorial provides is located in the Clinton Administration and the George W. Bush administration. I was a member of the Reagan administration. We most certainly did not deregulate the financial system.

So begins Paul Craig Roberts in his latest volley for Counterpunch, one of the best places on the web to find hard-hitting writing about America's downward spiral, in the days leading up to another electoral disaster.

Our sycophantic mainstream press and media corps, so obviously wedded to Obama, have all but given him a free pass to the presidency. What’s so appealing about a man that can’t come clean on one aspect of his past, whether it be where he went to church, what shady developer bankrolled his pre-presidential political career, or the fact that he was tight with a man that thought blowing up federal buildings was a way to bring about hope and change?

Granted, McCain is a “schmuck,” who according to last night’s debate can fix everything from the economy, to that pesky kitchen door that won’t shut right, is pathetic in his own special ways. Thanks to a media that can only investigate those that are ideologically opposite them, and ignore their own guy’s peccadilloes, we’ll get change alright.

Roberts piece is worth reading, at least as a disinfectant to all the lies and information that anyone watching last night’s debate was exposed to. Both McCain and Obama were awful. Obama, pathetic and morally bankrupt, but in a nuanced, metrosexual way that plays to American voters, for God knows what reasons, didn’t speak to this voter last night, and I sense that he didn’t connect with the 60 percenters who will stay on the sidelines one again in November.

The last point I’ll make about Mr. Roberts’ article is his concern about the U.S. dollar, as a reserve currency. Roberts states that, "If the dollar loses its role as the predominant world currency, we’ll see a dramatic change in our American way of life." Roberts isn’t the only person that is talking about this issue, as Peter Schiff, president of Euro Pacific Capital, spoke about concerns he had about the dollar, on Monday night’s Glen Beck Program, as well as Obama’s inability to address the underlying issues with the economy.

I think we have a major crisis in the dollar. There's going to be -- you know the dollar will collapse and that will send long term interest rates and consumer prices much higher. So the problem, Barack is right that the fundamentals of the economy are not sound but he`s going to make them less sound.

There’s a part of me that is truly concerned about where we’re headed. There’s also a part of me that just can’t go there today.

We’ve seen the stock market down over 800 points to start the week. Will it continue to head south, or are we nearing the bottom of the pit? Asian markets are down early, and a report from Britain says that the government is stepping in to nationalize banks, so it looks like another bumpy ride for the financials.

The American economic engine’s whining and the car’s lurching to and fro, and no one seems to know how to fix the problem before it breaks down and leaves us stranded alongside the road.