September 23, 2008
The most comforting face available?
How has the Treasury Department not found a better comforting face in a time of crisis? Paulson always looks defeated, usually seems to be ten seconds from crying, and often says unnerving things that create turmoil around the world. Part of this appearance is that he is trying to be a leader in what appears to be one of the worst recessions in this country's history, but something has to be said for getting a soothing face with fewer worry-lines as the face of the government's efforts to stem the downfall of the economy.
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Yeah, I don't understand. And where's Ben Bernanke these days? And have you noticed the Republicans have been throwing Alan Greenspan under the bus?
ReplyDeleteSo let me ask this: do you actually have any idea what's going on or what to do about it? And I mean any informed idea? Or have you read anyone who does? I really wish I was taking an economics class right now.
(As an administrative aside, what do you think of having two separate tags: Economics and Economy (this would go under "economy")?)
The emphasis above was supposed to be on "any"
ReplyDeleteI fully agree with the Economics/Economy distinction and will alter the tags on this post accordingly.
ReplyDeleteAs for knowing what is going on: no, i have no idea. It is as if suddenly everyone involved in the economy (I am referring to those above the level of consumers- the brokers, bankers, regulators, etc.), at the exact same moment, realized they had no idea into what beast the economy had transformed. To see major banks and purist investment banks (of which there are no more) failing or requiring a bailout on a few days notice is awe inspiring, in the same way I imagine I would feel while watching a massacre- terror, fascination, a great moral weight that will not soon be lifted, and an overall sense of inadequacy.
I feel a strange mix of anger, fear, and optimism, though I think the latter is simply the product of growing up in what at the time was the most dominant of all empires in history. Faith in the overall competency of those involved in the more complicated levels of our economy is no longer sufficient to quell the general unrest that is seemingly bound to arise from a situation in which the general public is so far removed from a true understanding of the economy that they cannot follow even the most rudimentary discussion of the economy. Perhaps this is the situation that some of the founding fathers feared when they argued in favor of a government based upon the idea that to allow every laymen to shape complex policy is irresponsible and unnecessary.
I guess my point is that we need to either start airing a cartoon on Sunday mornings that goes through the basics of financial (on the personal level), fiscal, and monetary responsibility, or stop letting everyone vote. Sadly, as I believe the inexplicable support for Palin indicates, it may be easier to get citizens to give up their right to vote than it would be to get them to watch a cartoon about economics. Damn peons.