We don't need a conversation about race. At least not now. What we need is a conversation about money. It becomes clearer by the day that this is not your grandmother's--or even Barack Obama's grandmother's--economic downturn. This time we start with a huge government deficit and record private debt, all run up when times were good and we should have been storing up acorns. This is one that begins with people losing their homes, which is usually the last act of the drama. This is one that is bringing back stagflation--that poisonous combination of economic slowdown and eroding currency we cured at a terrible cost back in 1981. When that red phone rings in the middle of the night, it probably won't be the National Security Adviser saying Osama bin Laden has struck again. It will be the Treasury Secretary reporting that markets have opened in the Far East and the dollar has become worthless.Paleoconservatives and paleolibertarians, as well as those on the "left" (the folks over at Counterpunch, for example), have known that this should have been an important campaign issue from the very start, beginning last year. Where the heck have you been Michael Kinsley, and the rest of the MSM? Where are the critical minds with a deep knowledge of history, political science, economics, and philosophy, instead of a meager degree in journalism and a passing acquaintance with best-sellers and the like?
We cannot count on the MSM to do the investigative work that we as citizens should be doing, and if we ourselves cannot do it, then there is something wrong with the "Republic." But we knew that already.
No comments:
Post a Comment