The New Deal prolonged the Great Depression, and we're doing it again.

Jimmy Smith's Analytical Insights recently compared the U.S. government's efforts to solve our economic problems with how President Roosevelt tried to manage the Great Depression. FDR's efforts thwarted economic recovery and prolonged the depression by seven years. Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

With the recent passage of the $700 billion stimulus package, "federal obligations now exceed the collective net worth of all Americans." This means The United States of America and its citizens are officially bankrupt.

Maybe all the government's debtors will sue the government and name all the citizens in the suit. If they could collect every asset owned by the government and every asset owned by every citizen, they could recover a portion of what is owed to them.

Or maybe China will learn from the U.S. government bailout of the auto industry. China could give us a loan or assume all our debt, then put tight restrictions on the government about what it could and could not do, to help the government turn into a viable enterprise.