Remember the scene in the second Star Wars movie where Yoda sent Luke Skywalker into a tunnel to test his nerve? Skywalker said he wasn’t afraid and Yoda responded: “You will be. You WILL be.”

If you’re not frightened by the terrible economic news, I suspect you will be. You should be.

A lot of people resent the federal government’s efforts to rescue financial and credit systems, but even the angry thought it would help the economy. It doesn’t seem to be working. More than a quarter of a million of new homes are in foreclosure, there are nearly 10,000 mortgage foreclosures each day, according to CBS News. Unemployment is at a seven-year high and expected to go higher. Most experts say the recession will last through next year. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson seems to change tactics weekly.

Automakers are on the brink of bankruptcy. Why should the country bail out mismanagement, refusal to adapt and massive liabilities everyone saw coming? Jim Bunning warned us. He said the automakers would be the next corporate giants looking for a bailout after we stepped in to save the banks and lenders. I can’t suggest any answers. It’s way above my pay grade. But if you don’t think the automakers’ collapse will ripple through the economy in ways that will affect more places than Detroit, ask the folks in Ashland who work for AK Steel and now face layoffs.

I don’t envy either Barack Obama or congressional leaders like Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell.

How would you like to be Gov. Steve Beshear? He’s operating a budget $900 million smaller than the last one and he’s already projecting a $300 million shortfall. Beshear has no money to spend – what governors like to do most – and he faces a Republican Senate in no hurry to provide it. Hardly anyone believes it makes economic sense to raise taxes in the midst of a massive economic slowdown. About the only thing he can propose is a cigarette tax increase and again Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, doesn’t appear so inclined. Prospects for expanded gambling are dim and it wouldn’t help immediately anyway.

Rep. Harry Moberly, D-Richmond, chairman of the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee, is correct. The current budget is inadequate for education and social services. Further reductions will be devastating. But they seem inevitable.

Meanwhile, the governor’s working group on higher education learned this week that tuition increases at Kentucky’s public universities are impeding progress on the state’s goal of doubling the number of undergraduate degrees in the state. Auditor Crit Luallen pointed out how important those degrees are to improving per capita income which is the best predictor of a strong economy. Tuition rates are likely to be higher still next year. There’s no money in the road fund. Medicaid costs continue to rise and so do the costs of housing more and more inmates in state prisons and county jails.

But how do you increase revenue in a deep – and deepening – recession as jobs disappear and more are in jeopardy? That’s why the work ahead of Beshear and lawmakers is so daunting. Unfortunately, many of them have other things foremost on their minds. Williams and Beshear seem more interested in blaming the other to gain political advantage. And one House member told me this week, “There’s no discussion of issues. All anyone talks about is leadership.” He referred, of course, to the contest for Speaker between current Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, and Rep. Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg.

That’s another reason to be frightened – and why you should be.

Ronnie Ellis writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. He may be contacted by email at rellis@cnhi.com.