I just listened to an NPR piece on Japan and how they've managed to survive their economic meltdown. They were able to keep their unemployment rate below 6 percent and maintained the same GDP with government spending to stimulate the economy. They invested in infrastructure like roads to create jobs. It helped them avoid a complete economic collapse, and they are just now coming out on the other side.
It seems counterintuitive to spend your way out of debt, but the government can't allow massive amounts of Americans to become unemployed, stop spending, and slow the economy down even further.
A news commentator called our current economic crisis "privatized investment with socialized bailout."
The free market and deregulation ideologues have had their way, and this is why we're trying to avoid economic catastrophe.
The maddening thing to me is that despite the fact that Barack Obama has maintained a clear economic path out of this mess from Day One, that the race is still as close as it is. Also, the latest news shows that Obama could lose six percentage points because of racial prejudice, which shows how incredibly backward some people can be.
Here's someone offering this country a real solution, and some folks won't take it because of bigotry. I guess these same people, if they were on a sinking ship, wouldn't take the hand of a Coast Guard rescuer if he were black? They'd prefer to drown.
That just makes me sick. The fact that there are large numbers of American people who would prefer to drown in their own ignorance than vote for a black (actually biracial) man.
Can I secede from the union if Barack doesn't win this?
Me and my family are going to be okay (I think). We're college educated in industries that will be fine...for now. It's the people who will suffer the most, and who are the most vulnerable who won't take the economic opportunity that Barack can give them.
I think part of Barack's "problem" is that he is actually ahead of the curve in both foreign and economic policy. It takes the country time to catch up to him.
2 comments:
I agree. If the American people can't get this "right," with all the economic facts staring them in the face, then I wash my hands of it.
I'll just be for myself and not worry about those poor racist folks in West Virginia. Let 'em rot.
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