The Recession is Going to be Painful

The recession, which has barely gotten underway, is going to hurt.  Period.

And, as Peter Schiff argues in the WSJ, there’s no free pass to get out of this one – “There’s No Pain-Free Cure for Recession“

Here’s an excerpt:

As recession fears cause the nation to embrace greater state control of the economy and unimaginable federal deficits, one searches in vain for debate worthy of the moment. Where there should be an historic clash of ideas, there is only blind resignation and an amorphous queasiness that we are simply sweeping the slouching beast under the rug.

I believe these ideas hold sway largely because they promise happy, pain-free solutions. They are the economic equivalent of miracle weight-loss programs that require no dieting or exercise. The theories permit economists to claim mystic wisdom, governments to pretend that they have the power to dispel hardship with the whir of a printing press, and voters to believe that they can have recovery without sacrifice.

We need to realize that government can’t magically cure this disease.  Everything they’re doing is just putting off the inevitable, and the longer we wait, the worse it’s going to be.  Like Schiff says, it’s going to hurt, so it’s probably best to take some big pains now, rather than even bigger ones later on.