According to a report provided by Mike Larson and cited by OpEdNews, politicians, pundits, bureaucrats, bankers, reporters, regulators and rating agencies are all swearing that the trillions of dollars of stimulus money that Washington spent on bailout schemes would rescue the U.S. economy. They assured us that by this time, our incomes, stocks and real estate would be on secure footings, and that:

– the economy would be on a roll …

– that most of us would no longer have to worry about joblessness or home foreclosures …

– and that home equities would be rising again and banks would be lending again.

And as our economy continues its tragic death spiral, they’re still pretending that things are working out exactly as they promised:

– that the administration, the Fed, and Congress have ended the debt crisis …

– that Wall Street states that the recession has ended and that it’s safe to buy stocks again …

– that Corporate CEOs point to increasing revenues, and bonds that are “as good as gold”…

– and that Moody’s, S&P and Fitch – the rating services that deliberately misled us about Freddie, Fannie, AIG, Lehman, Bear Stearns, and the many others that crashed and burned in the last two years – would have us believe that now their bought and paid for sugar-coated ratings, are “for real”.

In spite of all the spinnage from Washington politicians and Wall Street fat cats, however, most Americans see a very different picture:

– The housing slump is plunging to greater depths …

– Unemployment is sky-high …

– Consumers – 70% of the economy – are slashing their spending …

– and despite efforts to keep interest rates low, it’s almost impossible to borrow money.

So why is there such a glaring discrepancy between what is obvious and what all the politicians, pundits and Wall Street fat cats are telling us? There’s a simple explanation. Almost everyone we’re trusting to manage the economy and look after our money has serious conflicts of interest – powerful incentives to make sure we do not know the truth:

– Politicians and bureaucrats need us to believe they’re saving our bacon, otherwise they could lose their plush jobs …

– Financial fat cats and CEOs need us to believe it’s OK to buy their stocks again, otherwise their shares in their companies might very well crash in value …

– Those rating agencies need us to believe their ratings are reliable, otherwise the companies they rate will stop paying them to fluff their ratings, and the agencies will go under.

So, if the economy is recovering, then why has the number of U.S. companies filing for bankruptcy each year tripled since 2006? And why is the number of personal bankruptcies soaring – up an average of 35% per month so far this year? There’s a simple explanation for this, too:

– The worst of the recession is not behind us …

– The alleged recovery is a sham – bought and paid for by Washington and Wall Street.

According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), the government’s own watchdog agency, Washington has spent a staggering $ 3.7 trillion so far on the effort to bring us a recovery. But now that bailout money is running out, and America’s great financial judgement day is about to dawn. What’s ahead of us is an economic catastrophe that will:

– erase what little home equity Americans have left, wiping out up to 100% of the nation’s #1 source of retirement money, sentencing millions to poverty, and driving foreclosure rates through the roof …

– push banks like Citibank, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, US Bankcorp, SunTrust, Capital One, and many others back to the edge of the precipice …

– greatly diminish the U.S. dollar’s buying power and end the greenback’s reign as the world’s reserve currency …

– and kill what little consumer spending is left in the economy, slash corporate earnings, and leave the stock market a smoking ruin. –

Given the fact that all Washington politicians, Wall Street fat cats, pundits, bureaucrats, bankers, reporters and regulators are stringing us along in order to protect their jobs, there’s still another reason for them to dissemble. It’s simple – not a one of them knows how to get us out of this mess. Deep down inside, they all know that unemployment is the overriding problem, and without jobs a recovery is impossible – but they haven’t the foggiest notion about job creation. What a shame.

Within walking distance of Capitol Hill, the Library of Congress has volumes and volumes about the millions of jobs created by FDR’s Emergency Shipbuilding Programs. Those tomes tell how dozens of U.S. shipyards were revitalized in the 1930s, how millions of jobs were created, and how shipbuilding promptly ended the Great Depression. And it’s all at their fingertips. What a shame.