Last Friday was the 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition. It seems we can’t escape looking back over our shoulders at the 1930s.

We teeter closer to the sequel no one wants to see: Great Depression II. We got horrible news on the job front last week. Unemployment climbed to 6.7% as the nation lost another half a million jobs in the month of November alone. It was the worst rack of numbers in 34 years. One in 10 American mortgages is now either behind on its payments or in foreclosure.

Businesses are cutting back. Consumers are cutting back. Commodity prices have collapsed. The stock market is down more than 40% this year. When we close out the books for 2008,…