Contrary to what you may be thinking as you read this blog's headline, I am not making a reference to Congressman Weiner’s underpants.

No, the "home" to which I am referring is our nation's capitol and the "whopper" is the lie that our government is telling us about the U.S. economy.

Obama's "point man" over the weekend was Austan Goolsbee who visited many of the Sunday TV talk shows to say that the economy had merely hit a small speed bump on the road to recovery.  

Two days later he left the Administration to return to teaching in Chicago.

How interesting!

I'm starting to feel like Diogenes with a lantern searching for an honest man.

Is there no one in Washington with the guts to tell us how bad our economy truly is?

That's why we are pleased that you turn to us.  

We are not the least bit hesitant to give you the unvarnished truth in the hope that you will heed our warnings and prepare yourselves for some very rocky times ahead.

The May economic numbers were NOT a speed bump.  

They signify a second economic dip ahead. And, unless someone gets serious about cutting the government's SPENDING, we are all about to learn some very tough lessons.

We WILL survive this together.  

But, we need to make some tough choices NOW.

Here are the facts:

Unemployment will not get much better over the next year.

Wall Street will begin to finally realize that corporate America isn't profitable enough to justify some of the stock valuations they have assigned to companies.

"Quick buck" artists will try to part you from your money with investment scams, "pay-to-play" work or by fear tactics.

Food prices will continue to rise and we will begin to see shortages of some staples... so... stock up on some non-perishable food.

Inflation will start rising, no matter how hard the Fed tries to stop it.  

This will act as a tax on your purchasing power and will hurt those of you invested in bonds.

Coupled with inflation, the dollar will, at best, stay weak and, at worst, further weaken, making most consumer items just too darned expensive for us.  

This is due to the fact that we make very little of our own goods here in America and import so many goods from other countries.

Gas prices will continue to lighten your wallets because we refuse to develop our own currently ABUNDANT sources of coal, oil and natural gas.

The economic clouds continue to gather and yet the Main Stream Media and Washington itself are trying to re-focus our attention on a stupid, childish, supposedly grown-up Congressman who, seemingly, has nothing better to do than photograph his body parts and send them off on Twitter.

Don’t fall for the distraction.  

Like a magician, this is an attempt to get you to watch what's going on in the right hand while the left hand is reaching for your pocket.

Those of us who prepare by cutting expenses, removing risky investments from our portfolios and using a little common sense will be the ones standing when the dust clears.

You CAN do it!  And we can help.  Stick with Dolans.com for money news you can use to thrive and survive.  If you don't already get our FREE weekly e-letter Your Money Matters, click here to sign up.  Plus follow us on Twitter and Facebook!

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