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| Home Front: Politix |
| Terence Corcoran: Is this the end of America? |
| 2009-03-21 |
| Helicopter Ben Bernanke's Federal Reserve is dropping trillions of fresh paper dollars on the world economy, the President of the United States is cracking jokes on late-night comedy shows, his energy minister is threatening a trade war over carbon emissions, his treasury secretary is dithering over a banking reform program amid rising concerns over his competence and a monumentally dysfunctional U. S. Congress is launching another public jihad against corporations and bankers. As an aghast world -- from China to Chicago and Chihuahua -- watches, the circus-like U. S. political system seems to be declining into near chaos. Through it all, stock and financial markets are paralyzed. The more the policy regime does, the worse the outlook gets. The multi-ringed spectacle raises a disturbing question in many minds: Is this the end of America? Probably not, if only because there are good reasons for optimism. The U. S. economy has pulled out of self-destructive political spirals in the past, spurred on by its business class and corporate leaders, the profit-making and market-creating people who rose above the political turmoil to once again lift the world out of financial crisis. It's happened many times before, except for once, when it took 20 years to rise out of the Great Depression. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #12 Obama will go down in history as the man who bankrupted America. And as for China, Caveat Emptor. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2009-03-21 20:15 |
| #11 Ok, can I correct it to "once we give China the parts of the country it wants to settle our enormous debt, we'll be a banana republic without the bananas"? |
| Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie 2009-03-21 18:23 |
| #10 Blondie, I have bananas in my back yard. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2009-03-21 17:53 |
| #9 Ok, ed, who's been stealing my thoughts? ;) |
| Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie 2009-03-21 15:02 |
| #8 Recommended reading, via Instapundit The president has made America look like a banana republic. "It starts with a cult of personality," the Cuban explained. "One man declares himself the jefe, the caudillo, the big leader." ... "After the cult of personality," the Colombian explained, "what comes next is nationalization." Fidel had nationalized the Cuban sugar mills, Chavez the Banco de Venezuela, Morales the Bolivian oil and gas industries. ... "The last step?" asked the Cuban. "Censorship. It won't be obvious at first--they're always too smart for that. But it will come." |
| Posted by: ed 2009-03-21 13:00 |
| #7 Blondie: Are We A Banana Republic? |
| Posted by: ed 2009-03-21 12:43 |
| #6 Scooter: The subsidization of converter boxes isn't about TV reception, if I understand correctly. Emergency and national security need the band widths in case of EMP's, as digital communications go down if the unthinkable happens. However, in the chaos, the subsidies have been delayed, and failing to upgrade the system may add to our woes. |
| Posted by: Thealing Borgia122 2009-03-21 12:41 |
| #5 We're on our way to becoming the first banana republic that's too cold to grow bananas. |
| Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie 2009-03-21 11:17 |
| #4 It's happened many times before, except for once, when it took 20 years to rise out of the Great Depression. Due to Federal government meddling. Let's do it again! Yay! |
| Posted by: Parabellum 2009-03-21 09:17 |
| #3 Mugabe and Barry have more in common than most may realize. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-03-21 08:52 |
| #2 we are all Zimbabwe now. |
| Posted by: Gluting Fillmore6653 2009-03-21 04:19 |
| #1 He forgets to mention the destruction of a TV system that has served our nation well since the '40s, in order to subsidize converter box manufacturers, give away spectrum space to special interests, and push flat-screen high-def sales for foreign manufacturers. Meanwhile, people who do buy converters for "old" antennae-sets find that reception for their existing (upgraded) systems does not even match the simple broadcast options they used to receive. |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2009-03-21 01:18 |