Alright, so say Bush decides he won't bail out the baks and car companies in September or so, and so the initial financial crisis is allowed to spin out of control into a full-blown depression within the next few months. What I want to know is how, in the short-term, this affects the Presidential election, and how the last few years would've turned out with, instead of a chronic recession, a full-blown depression on levels comparable to 1930's America or Weimar Germany. Specifically, let's look at: -How does this effect American politics, Both parties had already settled on their tickets by the time of the POD, and I'd imagine Obama would still win the election So, how would the midterms and lead-up to the 2012 election go? How would Obama deal with the Second Great Depression? I'd imagine that anti-estalishment forces on both ends of the spectrum would be accentuated, essentially creating a Tea Party and "Occupy" movement on steroids, and a lot of anti-establishment fols in both parties could get elected in 2010 and beyond. Even earlier, what 2008 races could go differently?
Also, while I don't neccesarily see a huge rise in third party electoral success, I'd think that in some cases independents who got more than 10% of the vote did better. For example, what if Dean Barkley did better (but didn't neccesarily win) in the 2008 Minnesota election? What if this led to the Minnesota Independence Party winning some House seats in 2010? What if Tom Tancredo won the 2010 Colorado gubernatorial race on the Constitution Party ticket? What if Jim Traficant wom his independent bid for Congress in 2010?
-How would this affect European politics, especially looking at the Eurozone crisis, with Greece and Italy, among others? How would the most recent British General election have gone? How does this affect the Scottish independence movement?
-What about the rest of the world? Does this radicalize Arab Spring? Would Iran or North Korea try anything?
-Pop culture. What happens?
Please discuss!