The conventional wisdom is that we can’t have a repeat of the Great Depression of the 1930s because too many safeguards are now in place born of that era: unemployment insurance, food stamps, the FDIC, Social Security, etc.

But while no two economic depressions are likely to be the same, who is to say we are not headed toward something as bad, only different. I mean, what’s better, a fatal heart attack or terminal cancer? The result is the same.

The House of scared Representatives balked at a $700 billion dollar bailout (Bush prefers, “rescue”) of Wall Street–and some think it was wise to do so until more thought could be put into a fix than has been thus far.

The stock market sank faster than the Titanic, with no band on deck playing Nearer Thy God To Thee.

Perhaps the most scary thing is that we are being left with fewer and fewer banks–Chase having taken over Washington Mutual last week and Citigroup buying Wachovia today. Basically, Chase, Citibank, Bank of America and all is Wells Fargo are what is left of the viable commercial banking industry in this country. Really think you’re going to get a special on no fee checking anytime soon at one of these giants?

So, are we headed for another Great Depression? Whatever you want to call it, what seems to be coming at us fast is totally not good!

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