The ominous economic disaster is underway. Day 1 of our economic armageddon exposed the delicate American constitution to unprecedented fiscal savagery, as Americans watched in stupefied horror all of their hopes and dreams wash away like New Orleans before the floods of Katrina. What new terrors must Americans now face on the second day after the end?

Just kidding. It hasn’t been that bad, really.

Supposedly, a key benefit of a Republic is that cooler heads are allowed to prevail when the public wants to behave rashly. Last week turned this on its head, with elected representatives sprinting to do something while Americans hollered, “Not so fast!”

Supposedly, stockholders lost $1.2 trillion in wealth Monday — assuming, of course, that stock prices at Friday’s close-of-market represented the true value of the stock. If bad debt is such a tidal wave of market poison, then last week’s stock prices were probably inflated, making Monday’s closing numbers closer to the true value; we call that a “correction.” Over-inflated wealth is really no wealth at all, and our government should not artificially prop up over-inflated stock prices.

There are plenty of Representatives and Senators arguing against the Paulson plan. There are also plenty of Representatives and Senators ready to inject massive amounts of pork into whatever bill comes along. The most troubling part of this debacle is that few in Congress seem to actually know what’s at stake. Evidence: whatever alternatives they back, nobody in Congress has made a clear case for any of them — not even a clear case for doing nothing.

The US government boasts 535 elected representatives with seemingly numberless paid staff and researchers and executive department bureaucrats at their disposal. They’re not stupid. They’re just too small-minded to see past the dilemma as defined by Wall Street and the Bush Administration. Too bad our presidential choice this election is between two career legislators. Compared to this debacle, Palin’s “inexperience” doesn’t look so bad (Have you seen these representative-types on TV? They give terrific interviews!).

Speaker Pelosi, in particular, is a disgrace. She should resign as Speaker now rather than wait to be voted out at the start of the next Congress. She hurried to the floor a bill that she herself touted as the most momentous legislation of our time, offered no better explanation than “it’s what Bush wants us to pass to avoid catastrophe,” prematurely announced “Mission Accomplished” with regard to its passage, brought a bare majority of votes in her own party, and did almost no work to bring additional votes to the table.

Bush says that we need the bailout. Pelosi agrees but with a healthy dose of equivocation. The Republican leadership agrees, too, but with more reluctance than polite conversation can express. One might argue that we’re witnessing the biggest leadership vacuum in our lifetimes.

A more realistic analysis concludes that we haven’t the right to expect any better; the root problem is that too many people reflexively look to the government to define the problem and create its solution. They’re bound to be disappointed. Next time some politician proposes a bold new policy-based solution to America’s domestic problems, Americans will do well to remember how inept its government really is at defining problems, proposing solutions, and adopting plans of attack.