John Zmirak says credit-crazy Christians need to repent. Excerpt:
We're facing a major meltdown of the economy after eight years of governance by the president whose base was--to put things baldly--orthodox Christians. Pro-lifers, patriots, hard-working types who aren't sitting by the pool clipping coupons, or out at the Palm Beach Country Club recruiting their friends for a billion-dollar pyramid scheme. You know, the people David Frum is kicking to the curb for daring to vote for his candidates. Just as we must examine our consciences for the damage we did to Iraq, we who supported Republicans must take responsibility for the policies we enabled, the lifestyles we led. We urgently need to examine them all in the light of the faith we profess, and figure out a new way for our country to do its business--one that's a little more... Christian. Or at any rate, rational.Does it surprise any of you what happened when Sarah Palin got her RNC expense account, and went hog wild at Neiman Marcus? It's the same thing that happens to good-hearted, church-going folks who win the lottery--and end up nearly broke, cut off from their friends, within a decade. What is missing from the equation is a virtue that our churches have long stopped preaching, since it's even more countercultural and unpopular than Chastity--namely, Thrift.
John is not hopeful that we'll learn our lesson.
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Or "behavior," as the case may be.
At Nationa Review Online, Derbyshire quotes Peter Schiff:
"In the next few years, I believe U.S. citizens will undergo a profound identity crisis. No longer citizens of the world’s wealthiest creditor nation, they are now citizens of its biggest debtor, though most continue to act as if the rest of the world bows to the United States’ economic might. In the 1930s, the Great Depression affected not only the United States but nearly every nation on earth, so hard times here were matched by hard times elsewhere. This time it will be different. Even the most uninformed U.S. citizens will be forced to notice that other nations’ living standards are on the rise, just as ours is on the decline. This may finally force them to realize just how badly the United States has lost ground as an economic power — and how much work it will take to dig ourselves out of this gigantic economic hole."
One trivial I thought I had, thinking about this, is that it has not bothered me (a college teacher since 1981) to wear surplus, badly-worn clothing, etc. Not much anyway. But you know, I think it is going to bother me when pretty much everybody dresses shabbily. I didn't quite realize that till now.
Re: In the 1930s, the Great Depression affected not only the United States but nearly every nation on earth, so hard times here were matched by hard times elsewhere. This time it will be different.
Someone (Derbyshire or Schiff) is not reading the news if he thinks the rest of the world is just hunky-dorey. There are a few countries (e.g., Canada) which are experiencing a mild downturn rather than a hard recession, but a great many others are at least as badly screwed as the USA, if not more so.
First, in the area of finance, the given topic, we have hidden the costs of the war. We have borrowed to pay for it. Secondly, it aint over til it's over. We had "won" in Afghanistan also. If you really care to be informed, which I kind of doubt, you might add the new Foreign Policy site to your bookmarks that Rod has noted. The big issues of elections, shared power and oil are not resolved. The situation in Gaza should, again, point out the difficulty in finding lasting solutions in the Middle East. This is likely to be a continuing financial for years.
Iraq war and finance?
It doesn't even register on the screen.
We have now spent more on "bailouts" than ALL the wars we've ever fought, combined.
And according to the twit-elect... It hasn't even had an effect.
BTW, Saddam is gone. Iraq is reasonably peaceful. And it's not a radical Islamic state. The transition continues. That looks like a success to me. And at the cost of less deaths for Americans than Saddam killed of his own people every month.
Afghanistan COULD have been a success, but we let the UN get involved, which generally gaurantees failure.
Oh, and why does the smear against Palin continue? Especially from the self proclaimed beacon of righteousness types?
Re: Afghanistan COULD have been a success, but we let the UN get involved, which generally gaurantees failure.
Afghanistan could still be a success. Let's not write it off yet. And the UN's role is quite ephemeral. The problems in Afghanistan are unique to the situation there (apart from the fact that the US took its eye off the ball while flailing about in Iraq for several years). In Afghanistan we are fighting a coherent enemy (the Taliban) which has taken refuge in the mountains, an area from which it is traditionally very difficult to dislodge a guerilla resistance movement. The country moreover is notorious for grinding up would-be conquerors and hegemons. It even gave Alexander the Great major headaches and he achieved its pacification only after marrying a local princess, a solution not available to either Mr Bush or Mr Obama.
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