The second dip cometh? A Republican Recession?

So, the stock market sank faster than I can in water (yes, despite numerous attempts to learn, I can't even float, leave alone swim!)

The stock market plunged by more than 4 percent yesterday in its worst day in more than two years and investors flooded safe-haven investment alternatives, driven by escalating fears the wobbly global economy may stumble into a new recession.

While one swallow doesn't make a summer, the high probability of an economic catastrophe has always been talked and written about, even in this blog. And I am not even an economist or a banker!  So, it is not as if we are merely looking at this one day stock market event.

First, a recap of the nightmarish situation:

A Month of Awful News
June was a very weak month for the U.S. economy, and our data from July so far isn't looking good. Some quick highlights:

• Hiring was nearly stagnant in May and June.
• Real consumer spending fell from April through June.
• Small business optimism has been falling four months running. 
• Home sales continue to struggle. 
• The manufacturing sector is flirting with contraction.
• U.S. growth was less than 1% in the first half.

These would all be very bad signs in a healthy economy. In a weak recovery -- a time when business activity should be above average -- they're even worse. Although we appeared to climbing out of the abyss in early 2011, it no longer looks like we're even treading water. In fact, we may be drowning again.

Robert Reich is furious, and he is darn right:

Republicans repeatedly assured the nation that once the debt-limit deal was done – capping spending, cutting the budget deficit, and getting “90 percent” of what they wanted — the economy would bounce back.
 Just the opposite seems to be happening.
Call it the Republican’s double-dip recession.
Wall Street investors aren’t ideologues. They don’t obsess about budget deficits ten years from now, or the size of the government. One day doesn’t make a trend, but a giant sell-off like this is motivated by hard, cold realities.

Dr. Doom is on a spree of what essentially is "I told you so" ... like this one:

QE3 started in Japan & Switzerland via fx action &/or monetary easing. Fed will eventually get to QE3 but it will be too little too late

Oh, how I wish I had no interest in public policy issues at all; life will be so much without worries!