Mark's Top 30 Watch List For Economic Armageddon

Here are the events that I'm personally looking for to tell me when a very real economic catastrophe is near. I call it the “change we need.” Ha. I crack me up. Some of these have been done in the U.S. already, and I've listed which ones as "Done" at the beginning of each entry. I've also listed which ones have not yet been done, but which I expect will be done eventually. Some others, just for effect, I've listed with an asterisk (*) at the end of the entry to denote which ones were attempted by Nazi Germany prior to WWII. I'm calling this list the “change we need” in reference to Barack Obama's campaign slogan, because I believe that this “change” will bring an eventual swing in the political pendulum back to responsible, non-interventionist, small government. I've tried to list them in order of what I think resembles least to most important. Take note of how many I've listed as "Partially," or "Not yet." I believe that once this list is fulfilled in its entirety, our economic doom will be at hand. And the real change that follows will be much better for all of us.

30. (Done) Intervene when a hyper-inflated marketplace shows signs of correction. Do this regularly, and tell everyone it's for necessary “calm” and “control.” *
29. (Done) Raise personal income and corporate taxes to new highs. *
28. (Done) Encourage economists to publicly state that lowering taxes doesn't necessarily raise gov't revenues.
27. (Done) Protect inefficient businesses from failure by tax, tariff, cap-and-trade, anti-dumping laws and subsidies, among other things. Then tell everyone "It's for your own good." *
26. (Done) Bail out inefficient businesses when they fail in spite of your efforts, by confiscating as much money as they need. Whitewash all failures with propaganda. Then rinse and repeat. Then tell everyone "It's for your own good." *
25. (Done) Make a laundry list of government restrictions and mandates for all businesses to pay, including health care, minimum wages, environmental restrictions, multiple licensure and operational safety regulations, among other things. Then tell everyone "It's for your own good."
24. (Done) Have prominent economists decry capitalism as either dead, on its way out for something better (Marxism), or in need of a great deal of restraint. *
23. (Done) Condemn competition as uncivilized, and force cooperation. * (Communism)
22. (Done) Tell the voters that government “creates” jobs. *
21. (Done) Tell the people the only thing needed to correct all of society's ills is just a little more government. Paint the government as a new messiah. *
20. (Done) Consider the desire for profit to be “greedy.” *
19. (Done) Let the media elect whichever politicians they desire most. *
18. (Done) Engage in costly and multiple military conflicts that ultimately no one has any specific need for, and are most likely to lead to extraordinarily expensive failures. *
17. (Done) Take away cheap labor. *
16. (Done) Allow special economic interests to manipulate lawmakers.
15. (Done) Allow lawmakers to stay in office no matter how detached they become, or how dissatisfied the electorate becomes. *
14. (Done) Guarantee all tax monies to those same lawmakers, despite the electorate's dissatisfaction. *
13. (Done) Tell the taxpayers that government "needs," or "deserves" their tax dollars.
12. (Done) Consider any monetary policy that might have an effect on the economy of less than half a billion dollars to be "chump change."
11. (Done) Force the biggest companies in the nation to forgo profit in favor of the political whims of politicians. * (Corporatism, or Mixed Economy)
10. (Done) Print as much money as you think you need. *
9. (Done) Punish businesses when you feel you can no longer trust them, or when you personally consider them “too big.” *
8. (Done) Publicly redistribute privately earned wealth, involuntarily making each neighbor responsible for all the ills of every other neighbor. Then tell everyone "It's for your own good." * (Socialism)
7. (Done) Think that a governing body, consisting of a small number of individuals, that cannot voluntarily control its own spending, will somehow be able to control the ins and outs of a multi-trillion dollar economy that consists of billions of individuals located all over the face of the earth. Pursue this idea, despite the fact that it has been proven throughout history to be a bad idea that fails every time it's tried. Then tell everyone "This time it will work." *
6. (Done) Run up massive debts and deficits, the depth and breadth of which have absolutely no comparison in human history, and consider them normal. *
5. (Done) Arbitrarily manipulate interest rates. *
4. (Partially done) Nationalize the banking industry. *
3. (Done) Let the government consume 40 percent or more of the country's GDP. * (federal tax rate is currently over 37 percent) (Promised 8.5 Tril. on Dec. 1st, for bailout - equal to 60% of GDP for 2007)
2. (Not yet) Nationalize The Federal Reserve.
1. (Not yet) Call for a “State of Emergency.” *

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporatism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_economy
http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=arEE1iClqDrk&refer=home
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)
http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2008/12/01/daily3.html
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Taxes/Advice/YourRealTaxRate40.aspx