Tuesday, September 21, 2010

AND THIS

"And when the tax fight is over, one way or another, you can be sure that the people currently defending the incomes of the elite will go back to demanding cuts in Social Security and aid to the unemployed. America must make hard choices, they’ll say; we all have to be willing to make sacrifices.

But when they say 'we,' they mean 'you.' Sacrifice is for the little people."

—Paul Krugmn in today's NY Times (for full article, well worth reading, go here)

5 comments:

JIm said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
JIm said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Harryn Studios said...

It was interesting to see and hear former President Clinton on the Letterman Show the other evening as he spoke about the economy of new technologies and the ripple effect they would have once the stimulus gains momentum. In his down-home way he said "Change is hard ..." and went on to explain the merits of going green and re-fitting our current commercial and residential properties for energy efficiency - brilliant ...

But the sub-text was more interesting ...

We are getting precisely what Obama promised - "change" - and a shifting of paradigms from reactionary, quick-fix, and shading back-room behavior and politics toward one of reason and responsibility - but it ain't easy, and it sure as hell isn't perfect ...
but if you compare today to the downward spiral we were on only three years ago, there are signs of hope if we see past the rhetoric of the 24-hour entertainment/news cycle - even if you just watch news from BBC or France 24 - the perspectives are more informative than entertaining ...

Even the party polarizations and viciousness looks like desperate attempts to hold on to something that defies reason ...
It's like the crack before the light gets in ...

I think the best thing that Obama's administration can do is turn up the volume and stay on message ...
"Vote for Change" - and as Clinton, Carter, and most reasonable people have been saying here in the Alley - change is hard ...

Robert G. Zuckerman said...

Right on, Harryn. Thanks for reasonableness. robert z.

JIm said...

Here is a little FYI from Mr.Mondale:

"Walter Mondale, Mr. Carter's vice president, told The New Yorker this week that anxious and angry voters in the late 1970s "just turned against us—same as with Obama." As the polls turned against his administration, Mr. Mondale recalled that Mr. Carter "began to lose confidence in his ability to move the public." Democrats on Capitol Hill are now saying this is happening to Mr. Obama.

Mr. Mondale says it's time for the president "to get rid of those teleprompters and connect" with voters. Another of Mr. Obama's clear errors has been to turn over the drafting of key legislation to the Democratic Congress: "That doesn't work even when you own Congress," he said. "You have to ride 'em."