WASHINGTON, July 16 (UPI) -- The U.S. economy is a roaring bear, not a charging bull, these days. The bear is hungry and bad-tempered, and its rage is getting worse.

Most of all, the gathering economic storm over the United States is forcing even the Bush administration and its top policymakers to abandon their passionate faith in minimum regulation, no government bailouts and the invincible power of optimism.

Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, told the U.S. Congress Tuesday the future was "unusually uncertain" and faced "numerous difficulties." At any previous time in the Bush administration, this kind of talk would have cost Bernanke or his predecessor Alan Greenspan their jobs. It has been quite literally heresy under the Bush administration to admit economic prospects have been uncertain, let alone awful, but like climate change, the direct experience and obvious evidence has become too much to deny or sweep under the carpet.

The U.S. dollar has plunged to record lows, and the housing slump continues apace, leaving Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE), the two gigantic pillars of the mortgage market, in dire need of government support. Unemployment is rising. General Motors (NYSE:GM) is in serious trouble, Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) has lost more than $1 billion and the IndyMac Bank collapsed in Southern California last Friday.

Worst of all, the flaming dragon of inflation is back for the first time in more than a quarter-century since Paul Volcker, the legendary chairman of the Federal Reserve under President Ronald Reagan, slew it by letting interest rates soar sky high in the early years of Reagan's first term. Today, to add insult to injury for President George W. Bush, Volcker is an economic adviser to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.