...It was nobodys fault, really, that councilwoman Edith Childs had such high expectations. She followed the election of Barack Obama with mounting expectation and rode the slow trajectory of disappointment to its still-plunging depths. Slowly it dawned on her that Obama had no box of magic tricks in his repertoire; that nothing that would stave off the relentless deluge of bills in the mailboxes of her constituents and slowly shrinking job base of her community....
...Will a downturn, taken far enough, result in a desperate search for extreme political solutions by a people tired of making applications without result, of making job calls without return? Men on white horses are far more common in history than nations with a belief only in themselves. Except in America, the first country in modern times to try the tides without a king are men on white horses rare. But the ocean is wide, perhaps endless; and the distant shore behind still beckons to those who imagine safety there....
Permit me to suggest another interpretation: maybe Obama was the "man on the white horse", and as disillusionment with him sets in, white-horse-ism will go out of fashion again.
Agree or disagree, you whould read the whole thing.
*Richard Fernandez is he artist formerly known as "Wretchard the Cat."
Posted by: Mike ||
04/27/2009 16:55 ||
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#1
Home foreclosure is now a fact. The hot line for help is great if you can cough up $1000 - $2000 dollars for a Lawyer to represent you to the lender.
"Disillusionment" no question but when people are not working ,the unemployment runs out and people can't afford air conditioning - well this summer looks interesting. Farmers are quitting Dairy, and other farming (in Maryland and West Virginia) because of no return and I would think they are unable to barrow money to plant their crops. I remember the migrations then the riots. It didn't matter if you black, white, green or gray. If you had any perceived wealth you were a target.
TKY
Dale
...when Obama says Were not producing enough primary care physicians, hes making a mistake. We dont produce doctors. Theyre not widgets. People choose to become doctors or something else based on their analysis of what will produce the best life. Medicine has gotten less pleasant, and less financially rewarding, really, over the past several decades as its become more bureaucratized and subject to the whims of third-party payors. So will Obamas plan fix that? Seems doubtful. Will he recognize that you dont produce doctors the way you produce, say, cars? Thats doubtful, too.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/27/2009 11:38 ||
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People who are smart enough to be doctors are smart enough to do lots of things. There are those who will always be "called" to the healing arts, but there are many others who make it a conscious choice for a profession. Make it too burdensome, and the smart ones will opt out of medicine entirely.
#2
Sea, I concur. Following is my comment from a previous post.
The only real solution is to increase the pool of Doctors, nurses, ect. and there is no way to do that that doesn't cost money (recruiting, training, pay sound familiar?). And treating them like a Private entering Basic Training or overworking them will NOT encourage them to stay in the field. Nor will the increasing need for liability insurance to fight off the lawyers.
#3
No, I suspect that from President Obama's point of view "produce" is the right word
Posted by: Kelly ||
04/27/2009 12:26 Comments ||
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#4
going to the doctor costs money, period. If you want everything paid for all the time, become a Swede or stay in Mommys womb. People should pay for their own health care even if trhey are forced to choose between say that shiney new pick up or basic health care... drive the beater and get off the dole
Posted by: Be responsible ||
04/27/2009 13:39 Comments ||
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#5
Ditto Kelly.
Let's remember Clinton's health plan. That had everything laid out as to who could do what in medicine. It's not a long step to coercing (aka producing) people to become doctors.
#6
I've never heard an overworked doctor complain about being overworked, but I sure have heard them complain about the way insurers are interfering with the way they practice medicine.
The thing I'd complain about is the way the medical profession acts as a cartel to control supply of doctors.
Take care of those two problems and it would help our situation. But The One's plan for nationalized medicine is likely to exacerbate those problems, not resolve them.
#8
In Soviet Russia America you don't choose to become Doctor - Doctor chooses to become You! (by government mandate)
In Obama's worldview the Government produces everything. Doctors, Cars, Wealth etc.... simply by mandate. Would you want the Surgeon who is tinkering around in your innards to be one who would rather be a cook or plumber or software engineer?
(And your right - Goverments don't produce anything - it consumes with a monstrous appetite.)
#9
Meh. As much as I'm in Reynolds' camp in general principles, that's a foolish semantic distinction. Governments don't produce doctors, but societies generally do, and when a politician uses the royal we in a democratic republic, it's reasonable to construe his meaning as "we, the society" rather than "we, the political class" unless specified otherwise.
It's an acceptable shorthand in the terms of political economy.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
04/27/2009 15:24 Comments ||
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#12
Since Doctors will be required to perform abortions regardless of their personal belief during the Big Zero Administration, don't expect an uptick in good and decent people wanting to become doctors in America.
Posted by: Wild Indian ||
04/27/2009 18:11 Comments ||
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#13
Dale, when do I get paid then?
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/27/2009 21:17 Comments ||
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The nation's largest left-wing newspaper and the bible for network news producers and bookers may be going under. This past week, The New York Times [NYT] announced more staggering losses: nearly $75 million in the first quarter alone. The New York Post is reporting that the Times Company owes more than $1 billion and has just $34 million in the bank.
And the Post isn't too healthy itself ...
A few months ago, the company borrowed $250 million from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim at a reported 14 percent interest rate. With things going south fast (pardon the pun), Slim might want to put in a call to Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr.
The spin from Sulzberger is that the Internet is strangling the newspaper industry, and there is some truth to that. Why read an ideologically crazed paper when you can acquire a variety of information on your computer? But other papers are not suffering nearly as much as the Times, so there must be more to it.
Other papers ARE suffering as much, and some are suffering more.
There is no question that the Times has journalistic talent. This week the paper won five Pulitzers. It's true that the Pulitzer people favor left-wing operations (the past eight Pulitzer Prizes for commentary have gone to liberal writers), but New York Times journalists often do good reporting.
The problem is that under Sulzberger and executive editor Bill Keller, the Times has gone crazy left, attacking those with whom the paper disagrees and demonstrating a hatred for conservatives (particularly President Bush) that is almost pathological. The Times features liberal columnists in every section of the paper, and they hit low, often using personal invective to smear perceived opponents.
That unfair and unbalanced approach has alienated a large number of readers and advertisers. According to a recent Fox News/Opinion Dynamics Poll, 46 percent of Americans define themselves as conservative, while just 34 percent say they are liberal. In this very intense marketplace, insulting half the country on a daily basis may not be a great business plan.
The Times Company also has a major problem with The Boston Globe, which Sulzberger bought back in 1993. That paper is on the verge of bankruptcy and recently asked its union employees to accept cuts in pay and health benefits. Since the Times and the Globe are big on "universal" health care, that caused some giggling in anti-Times precincts.
Over the past few months, newspapers in Chicago, Seattle, Minneapolis and Denver have either folded or filed for bankruptcy. With the exception of The Rocky Mountain News, all the papers were committed left-wing enterprises. The truth is that most Americans are traditional-minded folks. They believe their country is noble; they want respectful discourse. Fanaticism of any kind is not the American way.
The New York Times is most definitely a committed left-wing concern that is openly contemptuous of the conservative, traditional point of view. That is the primary reason the paper may soon dissolve. And all the cash in Carlos Slim's fat wallet is not going to change that.
Yes, this is 620 Eighth Avenue New York city, New York. It's about 5 0'clock in the morning. That's the bankruptcy team, complete with auditors and the local television crews.
Good one P2K. "I am big; it's my circulation that has gotten small."
Or to add a Spinal Tap twist: "My circulation has gotten more selective "
Posted by: regular joe ||
04/27/2009 10:22 Comments ||
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#3
After watching elements of our very own "pravda" press dragging the One over the finish line by studiously refusing to examine his record of experience, his gossamer-thin resume and his many shady friends, I am coldly angry. They foisted this narcissistic empty suit on us, they gloried in how progressive they were, they all but administered a public cavity search to Sarah Palin ... and now they deserve to go down in flames and ignominy. All of them - not just the NY Times and other rags like them; the husks of Time and Newsweek, and freak shows like CNN.
Every one of them, shuttered and bankrupt, for their part in the travesty of the 2008 Presidential campaign. You failed in your duty to inform impartially, and for that omission of duty, you will go down. Permanently. Your hacks will be lucky not to have street filth thrown at them.
#4
The Democrats in Congress and George Soros and his friends will never let the Times die. Believe me, it will continue to provide an echo chamber for the narcissism of Obama, Pelosi and (I would say Reid but I believe he is toast) the other of the same ilk.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
04/27/2009 11:37 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The nation's largest left-wing newspaper and the bible for network news producers and bookers may be going under. This past week, The New York Times [NYT] announced more staggering losses: nearly $75 million in the first quarter alone. The New York Post is reporting that the Times Company owes more than $1 billion and has just $34 million in the bank. 
