There is an amazing disconnect between the two enablers of the Washington D.C. oligarchy. One of these enablers is the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States, which just published their latest Beige Book. The "Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions by Federal Reserve District" is published eight times a year, and one assumes that the past 20 or so Beige Book reports would have been reporting a slow deep decline, with anxious notes regarding where the "bottom" might be. But of course, that was not the case. Fed Chairman Bernanke has remained hopeful, appearing increasingly to be a wide-eyed idiot of a man, serving his role as government banker and chief printing officer with a dedication to false assumptions reminiscent of the Titanic’s Captain Edward Smith.

The June 8th report was received with alarm. It’s not getting better faster, and it not getting better at all. My, how private economic activity has desiccated in the hot sun of government taking, borrowing, outright lies and Ponzi schemes! Phase I of the economic shakeout is not even complete, and yet we are faced with a whole new Phase II of economic reckoning. After the known known bubbles and the subsequent government buybacks, buy-ins, and bailouts, we will soon face the next generation of the ready-to-burst. These include bubbles and major downward adjustments in the reported value of municipal debt, commercial real estate, the public and federally aided university systems, the War on Drugs and the overbuilt prison system, even technology and health care. And the one mentioned here, the Department of Offense.