Don't say you didn't see this coming.

Marge goes to the "Picture Perfect" seminar.

Host: Now, folks, I don't wanna alarm ya, but scientists say forty percent of America's pictures ... are hanging crooked.

[the audience gasps in shock]

Host: Yep, it's true. And I hear you asking: "Well, who's gonna straighten out all these artistic abominations?" Your friends? A neighbor? Those fat cats in Washington?

[chuckles]

Host: Good luck. Hey, you know, maybe no one'll notice! Maybe the problem will just fix itself.

Marge: Now you're the one who's being naïve.

In November 2007:

Dark days ahead. Stock up.

Here's Harvard's Lawrence Summers, whose assets are clearly in derivatives based on shorting the market:

Three months ago it was reasonable to expect that the subprime credit crisis would be a financially significant event but not one that would threaten the overall pattern of economic growth. This is still a possible outcome but no longer the preponderant probability.

Even if necessary changes in policy are implemented, the odds now favour a US recession that slows growth significantly on a global basis. Without stronger policy responses than have been observed to date, moreover, there is the risk that the adverse impacts will be felt for the rest of this decade and beyond.

In January 2008:

In all his speeches, John McCain urges Americans to make sacrifices for a country that is both “an idea and a cause”.

He is not asking them to suffer anything he would not suffer himself.

But many voters would rather not suffer at all.

As they've just displayed, career Congressmen are voters, too. And with elections only a few weeks away, they are acutely sensitive to the near-term prospects of suffering.

In June 2008:

This is a data-heavy presentation from two economists at CIBC World Markets. You'll have to make your own soundtrack. See how China dominates the growth in demand for natural resources. See how much is accomplished by Americans' purchase of hybrid vehicles, in the face of massive market growth in Russia and China. Watch how gasoline hits US$7/gallon by 2012. Watch ethanol peter out and energy capacity fall short. Watch the Case/Shiller HPI continue to plummet as delinquencies soar. And so much more!

In 2004, Decius wrote this in response to a February 2003 essay by Paul Graham:

To a great extent, the sleeping American populace has woken up to the fact that there is a problem with the way that they operate their society. ... People want to do something about it. Unfortunately, by all accounts, the dialog even years later is wanting.

People seem to grasp onto oversimplified solutions ... This demonstrates a lack of understanding of the scope of the issue.

I have always felt that these problems were systemic and structural rather then limited and specific, and that we are unlikely to be able to see them, understand them, or address them as a society because we do not want to change the things that we would need to change.

A parting thought:

“People loved comedies during the depression, too,” said R. J. Cutler, executive producer of “Flip That House.”

Who will have the last laugh? Stay tuned!