Who saved the economy? Ben Bernanke or the taxpayer? More importantly, was the economy saved?

A few days ago Time Magazine put Bernanke on its cover and announced that he was the person of the year for 2009. But what about the taxpayer? Should not the taxpayer be the person of the year? Because, after all, it is the taxpayer who will pay for Bernanke's trillion 'bailout' dollars.

The sad part about this is that another larger, deeper economic contraction is coming. What will Bernanke do then?

We think the deflationary spiral cannot be stopped.

Results from Google's Keyword Tool for how many times the words inflation and deflation are searched show that the majority of the global population is thinking inflation and not deflation:

The difference is staggering- 2,240,000 searches for inflation vs. only 165,000 for deflation.

Although deflation is not on people's minds at the moment it will not be long before it is. As the continued deflationary period marches on again (but this time at a faster rate) all hopes of a recovery will be washed away and the economy will continue to deteriorate.

'I envision our project not as being a bunch of professional media people tramping around the island with cameras; instead I hope it will be an emotional and spiritual journey by a deeply connected group of artists, to honor the issues that Midway represents. Maybe it is not too ambitious to hope—if we can fully rise to the occasion—that we might be able to co-create a multi-media work of art that tenderly witnesses this middle point that humanity finds itself at right now. And in the eye of the storm —the apex of the Gyre—perhaps our collaborative efforts can create a container for healing that might have some small effect on the collective choice that is to come.” Chris Jordan

I have bolded the two phrases above because they go right to the heart of the matter: That, first, due to the super-consuming of consuming not only have we created an economic crisis but due to it have also created an environmental crisis. And, second, that we're at a 'middle point' where hard choices will have to be made or not only will there be a catastrophic economic collapse like we've never seen but also a catastrophic environmental nightmare from which we may never wake up.

The Midway Journey project "serves as a lens into one of the most profound and symbolic environmental tragedies of our time: the deaths by starvation of thousands of albatrosses who mistake floating plastic trash for food." And it may also serve as a lens into the current and future state of our economic affairs.

Sad but true.

Janet Tavakoli thinks "Regarding the outlook, my analysis is grim. I am not a doomsayer, I follow the cash, and so far, I’ve been correct, and the government has been wrong. Here’s the situation. We are at greater risk of a total meltdown due to a deflationary collapse than we were in 2007. After the greatest Ponzi scheme in the history of the capital markets, we’ve seen history’s greatest fiscal and monetary expansion, but it hasn’t worked. Debt levels of consumers and business exceed the capacity to repay."