Once America was a decentralized country, but now all roads lead to Washington. Mighty C.E.O.’s abase themselves before junior House members. Governors and mayors come groveling. The status of the lowliest bureaucrat has risen delightfully, and there is a feeling of overflowing abundance amid the national scarcity as Washington spends the trillions it doesn’t have. Such is the local boom that your humble ambassador can drive from his residence, and in a few minutes he can count 10 McMansions under construction.But lo! There stands Corker like a damned stone wall... rally behind the Tennessean! As Horatius at the bridge, he stands his ground and keeps the hordes of voracious Tuscan CEOs at bay.
Friday, December 12, 2008
The Spirit of Washington
David Brooks sings an elegy for sober governance:
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2 comments:
dear george & barrack,
can my church have a bailout? if we run out of cash it will cause a huge ripple effect - no Christmas parties, weekly leasing, non-profit giving, and all sorts of other purchases. we can't let institutions like this just collaspse. for a mere 1/10,000 of what you are going to give the auto industry we can run a productive budget for decades to come.
for the sake of the economy,
**** *****
I found this delightful:
“Few are urging caution and thoughtfulness in what the Economist called ‘the argument by some that the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury are nationalizing the economy faster than you can say Hugo Chavez.’ And few have reminded their audiences that there is a dearth of evidence that beneficial long-term effects follow when a nation increases government’s role in free markets.
“U.S. history in this regard is telling. Franklin Delano Roosevelt regulated almost everything, including the price to be charged to press a pair of pants, but could not end U.S. economic stagnation during the Great Depression. In April 1938 unemployment remained at 20 percent, about the same as when he took office in March 1933, five years before. At the time he was also being warned by the liberal but policy-exhausted economist John Maynard Keynes that, ‘it is a mistake to think businessmen are more immoral than politicians.’”
(Goodbye to All That, By Jim Van Houten, http://www.americanexperiment.org/publications/2008/20080930VanHouten.php)
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