Sometimes you look at a situation and wonder "do these people know they are pointing that AK-47 at their own feet?" The Tea Party people make me ask that question.
(Which reminds me of another comment made some years ago by a foreign journalist about the New York Times' lengthy, agonized, and ultimately boring account of how they got the WMD/Iraq story wrong, and went something like "why do they shoot themselves in the b@lls?").
This Kevin Drum post from Mother Jones is an important read, as is the LA Times story he links to regarding the probable losers in the budget-cutting battle to come.
Another good map and discussion, from the Economist, really shows where the money comes from in the US and where it goes.
When the Tea Partiers and their friends stop cheering the US downgrade (and why S&P should be believed on anything, given their role in giving triple AAA ratings to asset backed securities and other questionable financial items), they may come to realize that the budget cuts are going to hurt them much worse. At which point they'll get angry at all those elites like Obama who took away their country, which they want back right now.
I don't hear the Tea Party members cheering about the downgrade. Drum's argument seems to be that the rural areas aren't being rational about their greed. I'm not sure that's a persuasive argument. I have two daughters in their teens. The trajectory of government spending is going to cripple them. What do you believe should be done?
ReplyDeleteDrum is making the point that rural life is very expensive, and if the federal government were to take that into account then there would be no postal service and other amenities for people living there. But cost is not included in the equation. Now start thinking that the federal government is like a family, and must tighten its belt. What gets cut first in that situation but the expensive items? Budget cuts in this case will hit rural America much harder, and so maybe you want to take that into consideration when you vote or cheer or whatever,
ReplyDeleteBeing greedy does not preclude being rational, in fact greed demands it. Being stupid and proud of it is where I draw the line.
Deleting Pocket Blonde bookmark in 4..3..2..1..
ReplyDeleteI agree with Diane! Rural America gets great benefits then votes for conservative policies. You want to live in rural lands, then pay for it yourself. The days of needing rural heartlands is overstated and not likely needed anymore. I may be simplifying my argument here but not by much.
ReplyDeleteI don't wish to belabor this. There are people who disagree with you. Those people aren't necessarily stupid and they're not necessarily wrong.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your words, although I do disagree with you on your conclusions. We'll have to wait and see how the federal cuts in spending pan out.
ReplyDeleteLiked your title, and I sure liked your review of the Uniball Jetstream Stick Rollerball.
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who is a former NAVY Admiral. He told me he disliked the LSM characterizing our congress as spending like drunken sailors. He said that on occasion he had been a drunken sailor, and when he ran out of money, he went home.
This economic shift has been brutal on commercial organizations, and they are adjusting.
Government has successfully held of the new reality...so far. Putting off necessary improvements just makes it uglier.
Nice blog, BTW, and your blogroll is super!
Dick,
ReplyDeleteA very good friend who died some years ago had one of the greatest stories every about a night she spent in Boston bar hopping with a dozen Portuguese sailors. So whenever I hear that "drunk as" phrase I think of the Redhead and her admirers and smile.
I think the big problem we'll be seeing is when the rest of the toxic waste, otherwise known as mortgage backed securities and their offspring (CDOs, synthetics, and other unnatural securities) start to fall apart. Europe is seeing the beginning of this, and our big banks and financial institutions that never wrote this stuff off are going to see a replay of 2008. Whether there will be a bailout is anyone's guess, though with Geither I would say that's a given. Good times coming for sure.
Thanks for the encouragement, I keep the rants at a minimum (2 in two years) as there's no real point in noticing the obvious :)