In challenging times, the past is a seductive distraction
My New Years Day column for the AJC:
A mere five years ago, the man who is now president was just an obscure freshman senator from Illinois; our governor was some congressman from Gainesville whose name nine out of 10 Georgians would not recognize. The national unemployment rate was 4.4 percent and your house was probably worth 40 percent more than it’s worth today.
Things change — they always have — but these days the pace of change has seemed to quicken. Maybe it’s the consequence of technology that compresses a generation’s worth of evolution into a few years of revolution. Or maybe it just feels that way, just as all of those who came before us felt buffeted by change in their own time. As participants rather than disinterested observers, we lack the perspective to really know.
Certainly, the world that many of us thought we knew and understood has been transformed in the last few years. In recent polls, only a third of Americans still say that our country’s best days are yet to come, and a majority have lost faith that our children will live better lives than we do. The economic affluence enjoyed by this country after World War II —- and the military dominance that flowed from it — feels strangely fragile and threatened.
To those who lived through the Great Depression and the horrors of a world war, that post-war affluence came as a pleasant surprise, and many knew better than to take it for granted. They had seen how it comes and goes and they didn’t trust it. As a result, they had a more accurate perspective than those of us who were raised on the idea that success was our natural birthright as Americans.
We are now faced with the realization that what we understood to be a permanent state of affairs may instead have been an aberration, a temporary product of temporary conditions. Faced with such circumstances, it is natural to seek out villains and to entertain doubts. If our affluence was testament to our nation’s strength, wisdom and goodness, as we were taught, what does its diminishment tell us? Does it mean that we have become less wise and less good? And if so, can we regain what was lost by trying to return to what we were, or what we thought we were?
Personally, it’s foolish to think in terms of “taking back America.” The path ahead is not behind us. If we are not the country that we used to be, good. We can be the country that we are going to be.
Although some may wish otherwise, the demographic, cultural, technological and economic changes of the past generation cannot be undone, and the worst thing we can do is waste time and energy trying to undo them anyway. The answers of the past apply to the problems of the past.
It is hard in a time of rapid, disorienting change to continue looking forward, to focus on what we plan to become rather than on what we used to be. As we jump from ice floe to ice floe, testing our agility, we may yearn for the days when we felt firm ground under our feet.
But that firm ground wasn’t all that firm after all.
– Jay Bookman
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611 comments Add your comment
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 30th, 2011
11:24 am
Josef – who’s them ‘them’ you’re talking about cheering you along?
I was thinking more like cheerleaders in short skirts
getalife
December 30th, 2011
11:24 am
Shorter Dusty.
Four more years.
USinUK
December 30th, 2011
11:24 am
Bruno – you’re forgetting all the other variables … 1) a central bank that is trying to manage incredibly disparate economies, 2) governments that cut tax rates to lure businesses in, 3) land speculation (helloooooo Ireland), and lastly 4) black market economies (yep, I’m looking at you, Greece)
while government spending on pensions is definitely the biggest problem Greece had in regards to spending, it was but one of many straws that broke that camel’s back …
Steve - USA
December 30th, 2011
11:25 am
Jay – “Just fyi, looks as though I’ll be doing CNN tomorrow at 10:30 a.m., discussing Iowa caucuses, politics, etc”
Good for you. I hope your career takes off and you become a major star. Heck, I hope you make it to the 1%.
md
December 30th, 2011
11:25 am
Adam……out of curiosity, do you think there are folks in the 1% that are “playing” the system?
I do……..so why in the world would the law of averages not indicate that there is a good number also playing that game in the other 99%.
I admire your tenacity in defending the “poor”, but like it or not, some of those folks choose to be in that position………and note the word “some”, as the law of averages would indicate as well. just as there are those on the other end of the spectrum that are evil, greedy, scumbags…….it is what it is. And if you can’t see that, you need to get out more. Personally, I don’t have to go too far to see it, as it exists abundantly within my own family. Bunch of worthless do nothings………….
USinUK
December 30th, 2011
11:26 am
“You are optimistic (this morning) while she downgrades the USA at every turn if it in any way relates to matters of Republican ideals.”
no, I just downgrade Republican ideals … I love me some USA …
too bad you don’t get the difference …
josef
December 30th, 2011
11:26 am
DUSTY
Just for the record, while you’re not abroad right now, I’d say the same thing about you. You represent ME, too…thass why I’m so glad to be an American.
Sagegirl
December 30th, 2011
11:27 am
As another year passes by and nostalgia raises its head. I was born in 1958. I remember watching the funeral of JFK on an old black and white Zenith tv. We lived in rural Ga in a tiny shack with no indoor plumbing and a single light hanging from a cord from the ceiling, heated by a wood burning stove.
Ten years later we moved to a larger house, but the amenites were the same, this time heated by oil. We kept to one room since my parents couldn’t afford to heat the place. My mother worked her fingers to the bone, sometimes on switch shifts and my father was an alcoholic slapping her around every chance he got. When the sheriff was called they told him not to do that anymore. They told my mother there was nothing they could do since they didn’t get involved in domestic issues and since it was in fact HIS house.
I left that life as soon as I could. Since then someone in the government has decided that domestic violence is not okay and behaving badly can be punished. Some people yearn for the “GOOD OLE DAYS”. Thank Gawd some things have changed. For a million dollars I wouldn’t live that life again.
Bruno
December 30th, 2011
11:27 am
You didn’t get Millennial training? You should have thanked them for showing up and not fired them. You can expect a nasty phone call from their Mom.
LMAO @ Steve-USA.
md
December 30th, 2011
11:29 am
RB,
Might want to go with the new trend……..hire seniors.
One doesn’t have to train them to get out of bed and they don’t call in when John has the coolest party on the block.
Doggone/GA
December 30th, 2011
11:29 am
“while government spending on pensions is definitely the biggest problem Greece had in regards to spending, it was but one of many straws that broke that camel’s back”
And don’t forget their pervasive tax cheating, that they didn’t spend money on solving. Tax rates are useless, no matter how high or low, if the government lets enough people get away with cheating them.
Welcome to the Occupation
December 30th, 2011
11:30 am
Bruno: “What I get out of looking at Greece and Ireland is that crushing debt is a bad thing”
But there’s a huge flaw in your premise, namely the fact that there countries such as Spain and Ireland that did NOT have significant government debt and were very fiscally sound. It was only AFTER the crisis that the crisis began to affect the fiscal situation because the financial class forced up their borrowing costs. What you’re leaving out here is the distinction between public and private debt. The current crisis is one that originated in the PRIVATE sphere, not public, so your use of the “Keynesian” label here is beside the point.
“Central economic planning has never worked, of which Keynesian economic policies are an example, so I’m not sure why I’m supposed to believe it will “next time””
Really? The economies of the 1950s and 60s were heavily “planned” — at least in the sense you’re using the term — and yet those decades brought a prosperity and levels of employment that from our current perspective look strong indeed.
Dusty
December 30th, 2011
11:30 am
Shorter, GETALIFE,
]
No mo’ years!!!
RB from Gwinnett
December 30th, 2011
11:30 am
Adam – “Sounds like you need to reform your hiring process.”
Sounds more to me like you need to stop making excuses for the “less fortunate” and hold them accountable for the decisions they make. We’re sick of paying the employees we have to work AND paying these leeches to work the system for every “free” benefit known to man.
“The not as spoiled Nation I grew up in at least had some idea of what the safety net was there for………and how not to abuse it.”
That safety net has become a lifestyle for a whole lot of people.
USinUK
December 30th, 2011
11:31 am
Doggone – I was lumping that in with the black-market economy, but you’re absolutely right!
josef
December 30th, 2011
11:31 am
COMMON
Yeah, them, too!
USinUK, DUSTY
Cat fight! Cat fight!
USinUK
December 30th, 2011
11:33 am
josef – meh – not worth breaking a nail.
Doggone/GA
December 30th, 2011
11:33 am
USinUK – but I like their latest scheme of taxing people for their backyard swimming pools!
md
December 30th, 2011
11:33 am
“you’re forgetting all the other variables … 1) a central bank that is trying to manage incredibly disparate economies, 2) governments that cut tax rates to lure businesses in, 3) land speculation (helloooooo Ireland), and lastly 4) black market economies (yep, I’m looking at you, Greece)”
yep, sounds just like the good ole us of a……….
CA gets to be Greece…………
getalife
December 30th, 2011
11:34 am
But you said you loved our country and he is President so you love him too right Dusty?
Where is your patriotism Dusty?
Come on and say it.
Four more years.
Adam
December 30th, 2011
11:35 am
md: out of curiosity, do you think there are folks in the 1% that are “playing” the system?
Sure. Hopefully whatever ways in which they play public assistance they get fined and have to pay back, like those millionaire food stamp people did.
As for some poor choosing to be that way, sure. I would argue that the choice they are making is very ill informed, and also most likely they do NOT actually believe they are better off being dependent on government (as a point of fact, they most definitely are NOT better off that way). I would suggest that those particular ones probably don’t know anything else and no one is trying to show them another way.
The points I am trying to make are simply that poor people can still be poor if they appear to “have” things that people do not EMOTIONALLY associate with being poor.
josef
December 30th, 2011
11:35 am
ADAM
I’m going to have to agree with you…one time, shame on you…two times, shame on me…three times, somebody is a slow learner…more than that? It’s not just the employee who’s incomptetent…
Adam
December 30th, 2011
11:36 am
RB: We’re sick of paying the employees we have to work AND paying these leeches to work the system for every “free” benefit known to man.
So don’t. Hire people that you know won’t cause you the problem of being consistently late. Surely there is some way you can vet this.
Dusty
December 30th, 2011
11:36 am
Josef,
I am certainly not abroad and I never undermine this country in subtle terms. IN fact, I get admonished often for mentioning patriotism. But thanks for your convertible compliments. I just never know whether the top is up or down.
getalife
December 30th, 2011
11:37 am
rb is not a boss and is unemployed.
He never told the truth here.
Normal
December 30th, 2011
11:37 am
Josef @ 1131…
http://history.icanhascheezburger.com/2011/12/20/funny-pictures-history-coming-soon-catty-shack/
Bruno
December 30th, 2011
11:37 am
Bruno – you’re forgetting all the other variables … 1) a central bank that is trying to manage incredibly disparate economies, 2) governments that cut tax rates to lure businesses in, 3) land speculation (helloooooo Ireland), and lastly 4) black market economies (yep, I’m looking at you, Greece)
Good comeback post, USinUK–moving like Jagger as always.
I agree that what ails Ireland and Greece isn’t simply overspending. Obviously it’s more difficult to balance the books when tax avoidance becomes a cultural value. All governments around the globe are faced with tax shortfalls due to the downturn in business, loss of land values, poor business decisions, etc. But, my oversimplified reminder is made so that we don’t forget the forest for the trees. Debt is bad. All those shiny objects sometimes dazzles you Geminis…..
Doggone/GA
December 30th, 2011
11:39 am
“Surely there is some way you can vet this”
it’s generally called “references”
bluecoat
December 30th, 2011
11:41 am
Yep it’s he!! being a polar bear.Longing for the days one persons income could support family,mommy could stay home with the kids.
Dusty
December 30th, 2011
11:41 am
GETALIFE
NO MO YEARS for the good of the country <<<<<< patriotic statement!
Tell me about your great respect for Bush! Yeah, do that.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
December 30th, 2011
11:43 am
Well clearly if you don’t agree with Dusty, you just can’t love your country. Its just not permitted to disagree, to have a different viewpoint or solution. I mean someone can be an old mean shriveled shiftless bitty without a brain or original thought and without the intelligence to even have a thought (not intended to refer to any real person) that views the world and the issues completely differently than I do, but both of us can still love this country and the Constitution……. right?
getalife
December 30th, 2011
11:43 am
Our President tossed the kitchen sink to save the w depression so yes it is expensive and the debt is horrible.
You can’t whine about the debt then don’t want to tax the only people that can afford higher taxes.
It showed you don’t care about the debt so stop crying about it.
josef
December 30th, 2011
11:43 am
NORMAL
DUSTY
Ya gotta remember, though, I love everybody except Helen Thomas and Duk-sha-nee!
USinUK
December 30th, 2011
11:43 am
Bruno – I got the moves like Jagger, what can I say!!
and you make getting dazzled by sparklies sound like a BAD thing !!
seriously, I think you were conflating two different things – Keynsian economics (government spending to prime the pump for an economic rebound) with what got those particular economies into trouble in the first place (private investments, bad book keeping, etc)
ken
December 30th, 2011
11:43 am
USinUK, Blacks in the 50’s had families. Blacks in the 50’s had Fathers. Blacks in the 50’s were not criminals. As for women, my Mother was a stay at home Mother. And she loved it.
Adam
December 30th, 2011
11:43 am
Bruno: I agree that debt is bad. A common household, if smart, catches up on debt when income increases, and most likely has to produce some more debt when income decreases below expenses. While a common household can cut SOME expenses, there is very little leeway there without being stupid. For example, in a housing market where you can’t sell your house or you have to take a loss, and/or the mortgage expense goes UP, that expense cannot be reduced. Expenses for food most likely cannot be reduced unless the family was going out all the time, and even then the cost difference is fairly small. Costs paid to education and current bills like electricity and contract internet and cell phones cannot be reduced. The children cannot be sold to make up for the shortfall, or stop being fed because you think they should be pulling themselves up by their bootstraps.
Likewise, in government spending, you can’t simply cut off the legs of the people you support.
I know there’s an emotional tendency to cut people off when they are having tough times and you support them, but we have to be better than that. The time to attach strings to assistance is not suddenly when things get bad. You need to do it from the start.
Doggone/GA
December 30th, 2011
11:44 am
“Debt is bad”
But that isn’t necessarily true. Debt it like holes. It’s not correct to say “all holes are bad” – and not all debt is bad. It’s how debt is MANAGED that is the issue. Badly managed debt is bad.
Bruno
December 30th, 2011
11:45 am
Good for you. I hope your career takes off and you become a major star. Heck, I hope you make it to the 1%.
I’m not sure Jay could survive the liberal guilt, Steve.
Really? The economies of the 1950s and 60s were heavily “planned” — at least in the sense you’re using the term — and yet those decades brought a prosperity and levels of employment that from our current perspective look strong indeed.
Help me out on this one, Welcome. How was the US government directly involved in the economy in those decades?? I don’t remember banks and automakers becoming government owned ala Bush and Obama. I do remember Nixon’s wage and price freeze in the early 70s though. Strange, strange stuff I thought, even as a lad.
josef
December 30th, 2011
11:45 am
BRUNO
We’re warning you, Bubba, best not mess with us Geminis, we’re twice as bad as you think we are!
md
December 30th, 2011
11:46 am
“I’m going to have to agree with you…one time, shame on you…two times, shame on me…three times, somebody is a slow learner…more than that? It’s not just the employee who’s incomptetent…”
Hmmm…Jo, adam……had to fire anyone lately?
It takes an act of Congress these days to make it stick……..don’t do it by the “book” and the corp gets hit with higher unemployment costs………which actually makes it harder to keep folks employed. That unemployment insurance bill is a fixed cost………labor is not.
Adam
December 30th, 2011
11:48 am
md: Hmmm…Jo, adam……had to fire anyone lately?
Certainly not several people in a row, lamenting each time about their work ethic, and complaining about the character of such people AFTER I hired them in the first place, over and over and over again.
Normal
December 30th, 2011
11:48 am
“We’re warning you, Bubba, best not mess with us Geminis, we’re twice as bad as you think we are!”
But being polar opposites negates that advantage…
Doggone/GA
December 30th, 2011
11:48 am
“It takes an act of Congress these days to make it stick……..don’t do it by the “book” and the corp gets hit with higher unemployment costs”
Then do it by the book. I work in a BIG multi-national company and we came in one day to find that an employee with 15 years service had been fired. There one day, gone the next. No Congress involved.
getalife
December 30th, 2011
11:49 am
dusty,
I respect he got out of politics.
There ya go.
Your turn.
Show some patriotism for President Obama.
USinUK
December 30th, 2011
11:50 am
“Blacks in the 50’s were not criminals.”
nope, they were lynched, nonetheless … ask Emmet Till’s family
” As for women, my Mother was a stay at home Mother. And she loved it.”
good for her – many women didn’t … but they really had no choice
josef
December 30th, 2011
11:50 am
“Blacks in the 50’s had families.. ”
“They” still do…
.Blacks in the 50’s had Fathers.
“They” still do….
Blacks in the 50’s were not criminals.
“They’re” still not…
Dusty
December 30th, 2011
11:51 am
Bruno,
Haven’t you heard? “DEBT” is now an obsolete word. You must learn to use “complimentary obligation”. Thus Obama wants to raise the complimentary obligation ceiling to make ends meet for the next project-ready-stimulus. (Shovel-ready is also archaic)
Just wanted to keep you informed of the latest cost-covering vocabulary.
Lord Help Us
December 30th, 2011
11:51 am
Jay,
When you are on CNN, please refer to the video you posted some time ago where Frank Luntz was talking to a focus group of Iowa GOP primary voters. PLEASE.
Then tell them this is an example of why the country should ignore the Iowa caucus…those people were some of the biggest fruitcakes I have ever seen. They dressed nice though…
killerj
December 30th, 2011
11:52 am
Do Away With World Global Economy and Put America First,You Will Get What You Seek.
Bruno
December 30th, 2011
11:54 am
seriously, I think you were conflating two different things – Keynsian economics (government spending to prime the pump for an economic rebound) with what got those particular economies into trouble in the first place
I know that you believe that, along with Adam, Keep and now Doggone. You’ll just have to accept on faith that I’m not confused, and simply think that not having debt is always superior to having debt. And crushing debt can never be endorsed due to the lasting negative impact on future generations. Which is why I think further “stimulus spending” would be an absolute disaster for us right now. The ship is slowly righting itself, the government just needs to stay out of the way. If we have to tighten the belt a little in the meantime, so be it.
USinUK
December 30th, 2011
11:54 am
“Do Away With World Global Economy and Put America First”
is that like the 5 year old who covers his eyes and thinks he’s invisible???
Dusty
December 30th, 2011
11:55 am
GETALIFE
Bush got out of politics with RESPECT. And after two terms.
If Obama gets out with respect, it will be after one term.
So there! Take your meds…
GT/MIT
December 30th, 2011
11:55 am
Adam/josef: I have no idea what the nature of RB’s business is so I can’t be certain that my comment is applicable. From my own experience, the facts are, If you do any contractual work for the government, no matter how small the contract nor the number of workers required, hiring for the project is no all that easy. There are guide lines and guide lines for using the guide lines, in short, one cannot always hire the best qualified for the job. As a result, saving the government money, is like unto digging a hole in the ocean.
josef
December 30th, 2011
11:55 am
NORMAL
Not if we’re focused on the same target!
md
No. I know I’m an incompetent at running a business. But, as you say, there are consequences and when the same consequences keep coming up, it may have something to do with the decisions?
USinUK
December 30th, 2011
11:56 am
Bush got out of politics with RESPECT???
http://www.gallup.com/poll/110806/bushs-approval-rating-drops-new-low-27.aspx
not so much …
md
December 30th, 2011
11:56 am
“Certainly not several people in a row, lamenting each time about their work ethic, and complaining about the character of such people AFTER I hired them in the first place, over and over and over again.”
I’ve hired several that looked just wonderful on paper, presented well in several interviews, good references………and turned out to be Mr or Mrs Hyde.
references?
Nobody lists a bad personal reference…….that is basically a waste of time. And employers don’t give out info anymore other than…..”yes, that person did work here”.
USinUK
December 30th, 2011
11:59 am
“And employers don’t give out info anymore other than…..”yes, that person did work here”.”
true that – too many are afraid of being sued if they say what a crappy employee the person was …
Normal
December 30th, 2011
11:59 am
USinUK,
Well, it’s a certainty that Dusty was one on the 27%…
Bruno
December 30th, 2011
12:00 pm
We’re warning you, Bubba, best not mess with us Geminis, we’re twice as bad as you think we are!
You too, josef?? Lord help me now!!
Just wanted to keep you informed of the latest cost-covering vocabulary.
LMBO @ Dusty. (In deference to your sense of propriety, I used the PG version of LMAO).
getalife
December 30th, 2011
12:01 pm
If I went on CNN I would propose to layoff corrupt congress until the election to stop the gop trying to derail our recover for this election..
I would call out the cons for rewarding the unAmerican and unpatriotic gop with their votes.
I would tell Americans to look at the gop actions since their collapse to see if they deserve your vote.
I would say the gop deserve to lose big.
Adam
December 30th, 2011
12:01 pm
md: Sounds like your vetting process was a good one. But I also bet you didn’t have a consistently bad problem with people showing up late and so on.
md
December 30th, 2011
12:02 pm
As for “stimulation” by gov’t……the concept looks ok on paper……boost the economy in down times and then cut it back down in good times……….
Reality……..it gets stimulated in bad times and then in good times, gov’t sees all this money and decides it can now afford all these programs it has wanted forever, so it forgoes the cutback in favor of additional spending……….and when the next bad time comes around, we get 15 trillion in debt and the solution is to raise the debt ceiling another 1.2 trillion………….
Curious Observer
December 30th, 2011
12:02 pm
Help me out on this one, Welcome. How was the US government directly involved in the economy in those decades?? I don’t remember banks and automakers becoming government owned ala Bush and Obama. I do remember Nixon’s wage and price freeze in the early 70s though. Strange, strange stuff I thought, even as a lad.
Let me answer your question with one example, Bruno. The Eisenhower administration decided that it would be good to intervene in education by offering boards of education supplemental funding if they would change their school curricula to emphasize career education. Not an intervention in the economy, you say? Just read on. In my home county, it was decided by the predominately Republican board of education that it would be a great thing if it could reduce homeowner taxes by using the federal funding and accepting the conditions. The conditions? All male high school students would take four credits of vocational education—vocational agriculture, shop, etc. All female high school students would take four units (out of 16, mind you) of home economics—for it was just assumed that all the boys would be farmers or manual laborers and all the girls would become homemakers. Erased from the curriculum were subjects like second-year algebra, calculus, physics, sciences, foreign languages, etc. The outcome of this federal intervention? Thousands of young men and women left high school utterly unprepared for any vocation other than farming, manual labor, or homemaking. The valedictorian of my high school class went to nursing school at the University of Virginia and flunked out in her first year as a result of deficiencies in math and science. And she wasn’t the only valedictorian from that school to flunk out of college. As for me, I had to work like a slave to acquire the math and foreign language skills to handle a college curriculum.
Just think of the under-achievement and long-term economic circumstances that resulted from this one seemingly little federal intervention. What that education act and the actions of tax-averse education boards did to the careers of thousands of students was little short of criminal.
You see, there are many more federal interventions than banking-related ones that have effects on the economy.
USinUK
December 30th, 2011
12:04 pm
he’s driving a jeep but he ain’t in the army … gets all the cigarette money from his mommy … dressed like a rootin’-tootin’ Texas cowboy has never seen a horse …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVpz9k5myno
he wanna be Americano … Americano … Americano …
Normal
December 30th, 2011
12:04 pm
By the way…all Libruls and socialist scumbags rejoice! The USSR began today, 1922. us Occupiers are bringin’ hope and change. The fat cat will fall, Doctor Zhivago…
Adam
December 30th, 2011
12:06 pm
md: Reality……..it gets stimulated in bad times and then in good times, gov’t sees all this money and decides it can now afford all these programs it has wanted forever, so it forgoes the cutback in favor of additional spending
No md, reality is that stimulus almost NEVER happens and austerity happens in its place. In good times, the government also rarely cuts back, and spends because it thinks it has the money. So what happens is tax revenue = spending, less tax revenue = cuts (but to a far lesser degree in our country). The responsible thing would be to do the opposite on both ends.
josef
December 30th, 2011
12:07 pm
GT and md…
I’m not being snarky, please understand, and I’m not about to claim that the regulations are often something out of Kafka, but if it’s insupportable, then cut your losses and do something else. That’s why I don’t do it and I keep my contract work strictly one person. My job in education? That’s why I wouldn’t even think of going into administration…no where near enough money for the headache and I’d be so hamstrung I couldn’t get anything of any value done…
getalife
December 30th, 2011
12:07 pm
I would also propose for America to go back to being Americans now that our President crushed aq.
Restore freedoms and stop spying on Americans.
Get tough and white collar crimes on Wall Street and prosecute torture.
Bruno
December 30th, 2011
12:09 pm
A next time would require a first time. The principle of government spending during bad times and cut backs during good times has yet to be applied. (And btw, tax cuts during good times without also reducing spending doesn’t count).
Adam–How do you characterize the direct government “stimulus” spending during the 1930s, 1940s and 2000s?? If that is not direct application of Keynesian principles, than what is?? And, no matter how you try to put a happy face on it by comparing the actual dismal results following stimulus spending with even more dismal “hypothetical” results of how it would have been without the spending, the results have always been dismal. But, maybe “next time” it will work….
As for the lack of immediate success of the austerity measures in Greece and Ireland, who expected otherwise?? The difference is, however, when things do turn around, they won’t be saddled with a whole new round of debt served up in the name of “stimulus”.
AmVet
December 30th, 2011
12:12 pm
Yep, in the parallel reality of neo-conservatism, the (W)orst ever was fab.
But, on planet earth…
Upon leaving office the final poll recorded his approval rating as 19%, a record low for any U.S. President.
In an August 2008 poll, likely voters were asked the question “Will History rate George W. Bush as the worst President ever?” 41% responded “yes”, 9% were unsure, and 50% said “no”.
Only half of those polled said he WASN’T the worst ever!
The man is in a league not only of his own, but is not within rifle range of any other US president.
Own him, cons. He’s yours…
USinUK
December 30th, 2011
12:13 pm
“The difference is, however, when things do turn around, they won’t be saddled with a whole new round of debt served up in the name of “stimulus”.”
ohmy … by the time things do turn around, we’re talking another generation when it comes to Greece and, most likely Ireland … and, yes, they will have boatloads of debt to repay all the bailouts
Bruno
December 30th, 2011
12:13 pm
If I went on CNN I would propose to layoff corrupt congress until the election to stop the gop trying to derail our recover for this election..I would call out the cons for rewarding the unAmerican and unpatriotic gop with their votes. I would tell Americans to look at the gop actions since their collapse to see if they deserve your vote. I would say the gop deserve to lose big.
Out of curiosity, getalife, how would that differ from the daily message being touted at CNN already?? Or, for that matter, here on the Bookman blog. No, no liberal bias anywhere that I can see……
Obama is over
December 30th, 2011
12:14 pm
Nice column today Jay. It is important to know where you are coming from in order to lay the foundation for where you are going. I find it ironic that Adam quotes Paul Krugman today and assumes he has it all figured out. Krugman lost all credibitility when he said that Gabby Giffords was shot because of the Tea Party. The bad news for the Keynesian argument is that this month Gallup released a poll stating that 64% of Americans believe that the biggest threat to the economy is Big Government. Adam needs to brush up on his Milton Friedman and Fredrich Hayek. Looking forward, I am interested in how Obama is going to handle the Keystone pipeline in 60 days. With the sabre rattling in the Middle East, the price of oil is going to go up in 2012 and the fragile recovery could be destroyed with $5 gas. Obama will be hard pressed to argue against becoming more energy independent and creating new jobs with proven technology. The Keystone situation will be the first test of the New Year to see if our President is capable of doing what is best for the country or if he is still focused on partisan divisive rhetoric. When Obama looks into our eyes, he sees what he wants to see, his own reflection, the illusion of a great man. He is after all, one of the top 5 Presidents in history. He needs this fantasy to define himself. America needs a leader capable of pulling the various factions together in Washington to actually accomplish something. Since getting elected, Obama’s ability to bring people together has steadily gone down. We are seeing this by the Obama campaign already playing the race card, abortion, gay rights, and the same tired arguments to try to disparage the opposition because he can’t stand on his successes. Jay, it is important to look forward , and from where I stand, it is going to be the year of a brutal scorched Earth political campaign with $billions spent. So we are supposed to invest in oil pipeline and media companies and see where we go a year from now.
lliberalefty
December 30th, 2011
12:14 pm
the good ole days werent so good for most folks
RB from Gwinnett
December 30th, 2011
12:15 pm
Adam – “So don’t. Hire people that you know won’t cause you the problem of being consistently late. Surely there is some way you can vet this.”
I’ll be sure to just ask them in the interview next time. I realize you think everybody else is an idiot and hasn’t thought of that, but you one one completely clueless individual and you prove that here every day. I encourage you to get out from behind the computer and go educate yourself. PLEASE!!! Go to a Lowe’s or Home Depot and ask the manager if what I’ve been telling you is true. Publix, Kroger, Longhorn, Chili’s, anywhere. Stop being ignorant and spouting off as if you have a clue.
GT/MIT, The business I’m in is irrelevant. The discussion is about the sorry nature of the work ethic in the “less fortunate” class in this country. The Adam’s of the world refuse to open their eyes and beleive these people are responsible for their own lot in life, continue to make excuses for them and blame employers for not doing a good enough job hiring. He’s a clueless idiot who refuses to educate himself, but continues to spout off here as if he knows something. His arrogance about it is quite annoying.
getalife
December 30th, 2011
12:15 pm
cons pretend the collapse never happened.
This argument is a lie but they ignore it and live in la la land.
Just ask Dusty about w and his collapse.
USinUK
December 30th, 2011
12:16 pm
okay, my friendlies … heading home …
wishing you all a VERY happy new year!!!
see you in 2012
Steve - USA
December 30th, 2011
12:17 pm
Amvet,
Not a Bush fan but wasn’t he just placed #2 on the most admired men of 2011?
Makes your rant look rather silly…..and ill-timed.
getalife
December 30th, 2011
12:18 pm
rb,
You don’t even have a job.
“Stop being ignorant and spouting off as if you have a clue”
It is because you have a horrible attitude.
Why would anyone hire you?
Steve - USA
December 30th, 2011
12:18 pm
the good ole days werent so good for most folks
Are these good days for most folks?
Dusty
December 30th, 2011
12:20 pm
NORMAL,
You are correct. I’m in the 27% who respect George W. Bush.
By the end of the Obama era and realization sets in, that percent will jump for Bush. It’s happening now with our current president diddling away a week or two on the golf course in Hawaii while issueing little spineless recommendations for employee vacancies and saying OK to something passed in Congress. Impressive!
And yes I know Bush went for vacations…in Crawford,Texas which aint no ocean away, honey!!
Eat your heart out you poor, dismal, undernourished and underschooled liberals! Prez Obama is driving that ball for you!!
getalife
December 30th, 2011
12:21 pm
Bruno,
It’s corporate media.
Do you know what yellow journalism means?
Ramzad
December 30th, 2011
12:22 pm
RECON@10:54
You have you head in the sand or very deluded about American Exceptionalism. America could not help but being exceptional, since way into the 20th it had laws preventing some of its citizen from riding at the front of the bus, sitting at the lunch counter, allowing women to vote, and rounding up Japanese for a stint in West coast labor camps.
America had to be exceptional, since race is injected into everything we think or do. So American Exceptionalism only mean something to the Americans who were and continue to be fine with the fact that some Americans are better than some. How is that American exceptionalism working for you minority Americans?
getalife
December 30th, 2011
12:23 pm
Dusty.
Do you remember “watch this drive” when w was asked about the Iraq disaster?
Joseph
December 30th, 2011
12:24 pm
Yep just 5 short years ago we had a real leader in the Whitehouse and Republicans controlled both chambers of Congress… Those were the days…..
midtownguy
December 30th, 2011
12:24 pm
If I were Mitt Romney, once the nomination is secured, I would use as my campaign slogan “are you better off today than you were four years ago?”
Between the value of my house and my 401k, I am down about $200,000. I often offend my fellow-gay neighbors when I assert that I am much more interested in my financial security than I am in marrying my partner of 20 years. What good are “marriage rights” when you are broke.
Adam
December 30th, 2011
12:25 pm
Bruno: How do you characterize the direct government “stimulus” spending during the 1930s, 1940s and 2000s??
Immediately followed by austerity and cutbacks, before the budding recovery was allowed to grow to sustainable levels. In the 2000s, tax cuts and wars (at the same time) more than offset any supposed stimulus during those times.
As for the lack of immediate success of the austerity measures in Greece and Ireland, who expected otherwise??
First of all, there is no “lack of immediate success,” there is direct and immediate and SUSTAINED failure as a result. Second, were you making the argument of “who expected immediate success?” when stimulus was introduced? Didn’t think so.
Outside Looking In
December 30th, 2011
12:25 pm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jun/06/us-economy-decline-recovery-challenges
Decline and fall of the American empire
America in 2011 is Rome in 200AD or Britain on the eve of the first world war: an empire at the zenith of its power but with cracks beginning to show.
The experience of both Rome and Britain suggests that it is hard to stop the rot once it has set in, so here are the a few of the warning signs of trouble ahead: military overstretch, a widening gulf between rich and poor, a hollowed-out economy, citizens using debt to live beyond their means, and once-effective policies no longer working. The high levels of violent crime, epidemic of obesity, addiction to pornography and excessive use of energy may be telling us something: the US is in an advanced state of cultural decadence.
josef
December 30th, 2011
12:25 pm
DUSTY
Oh, please. Hawaii? I thought going home for the holidays was an American family values tradition. So, why did the Carpetbagger prince vacation in Texas and not New England?
getalife
December 30th, 2011
12:25 pm
Josef,
And they gave us a big pile of crap.
Bruno
December 30th, 2011
12:25 pm
You see, there are many more federal interventions than banking-related ones that have effects on the economy.
Curious Observer–I see a point in what you’re saying regarding the (seeming) effect that this unwanted “central planning” had on the college success of your classmates, but I can’t equate that to direct government ownership of corporations and direct intervention into the economy through contrived stimulus spending.
Per your more direct point, I can’t agree with you 100% regarding the school’s responsibility to prepare its students for college based on my own acceptance into one of the most selective colleges in the US after having attended one of the worst high schools. I looked ahead and studied on my own. I got my ass kicked my freshman year in college, but still came out at the top of my class by the end of each semester. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
lliberalefty
December 30th, 2011
12:26 pm
why do all these conservatives pretend to own businesses? yet theyre on JAYS column all day everyday…lol..
Normal
December 30th, 2011
12:26 pm
Dusty,
On vacation, Bush went home. On vacation, Obama went home. Are you going to sit there and deny Obama the right to go home just because it’s further away than Crawford? Come on, Dusty. I know you dislike our President, but…get real.
RB from Gwinnett
December 30th, 2011
12:26 pm
Getaclue, go hump somebody else with your worthless drivel. You’re a waste of blog space.
AmVet
December 30th, 2011
12:28 pm
Not a Bush fan but wasn’t he just placed #2 on the most admired men of 2011?
By whom? Mad Magazine? LOL.
For him to be in the top 102 is as idiotic and preposterous as when Barry won the Nobel Peace Prize…
lliberalefty
December 30th, 2011
12:28 pm
thanks for 9/11 DUBYA, u really kept AMERICA safe….ahhh the good ole days of yore
josef
December 30th, 2011
12:28 pm
Ramzad
“How is that American exceptionalism working for you minority Americans?”
In our multi-minority household, pretty well, all in all…like I said earlier, we’ve come a long way and just as much as our failures have a lot to do with American exceptionalism, so do our successes…
getalife
December 30th, 2011
12:29 pm
“why do all these conservatives pretend to own businesses? yet theyre on JAYS column all day everyday…lol..”
They live in a make believe world I call la la land.
lliberalefty
December 30th, 2011
12:29 pm
RB from GWINNET is another conservative who claims to own his own business…yeah right
getalife
December 30th, 2011
12:30 pm
Funny, Bosch started a business and he never posts anymore.