In four years, after the predicted problems have come to pass, many Americans will say, "But that's not what we intended -- why didn't anyone tell us before we adopted these policies?" But by that time it will be too late, just as we're seeing with the banking crisis.
Unfortunately, the Republicans don't seem to be mounting much of an opposition. In my home state of Colorado, they are losing support because too many are concerned about opposing gay marriage, abortion, and stem cell research, rather than fighting for free markets and sound economic policies:
Perhaps a few years in the political wilderness will help teach them a lesson. But I'm not holding my breath. And in the meantime, the country will pay a heavy (and avoidable) price for the follies of both major political parties...
memomachine wrote:
Hmmmmm.
WSJ eh?
Let me point out that it was the WSJ, along with a number of other idiot Republicans, that foisted McCain on the rest of us.
Not to mention their love of illegal immigration as a way of pandering to hispanics.
So I take anything from the WSJ with a rather large grain of salt.
Carl Pham wrote:
In four years, after the predicted problems have come to pass, many Americans will say, "But that's not what we intended -- why didn't anyone tell us before we adopted these policies?"
Unfortunately, I think not. That's not how people work. When Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac came a-cropper, Senator Dodd and his Democratic colleagues could have said oh shit, that's not what we intended by all this community organizin' makin' loans so poor people can have The American Dream.
Nope. Turns out to be the fault of Bush deregulation, which we've been warning and warning about. (Which "deregulation" in particular? Which rule was abandoned that would have saved the day? Don't bug me about that sort of picayune crap. It's deregulation, damn it.)
The human mind finds it much easier to rationalize some clever theory about how, actually, it was right all along, than accept that it was wrong.
So when the economy mopes around, because all the capital that could start it going is being sucked up by Washington, to be flung away on this or that pointless feel-good project, people who voted in The O and his team of Chicago crooks and Clinton retreads are not going to smack their foreheads and say we wuz wrong! They're going to figure out a clever theory that explains how they were right, but some traditional enemy -- George Bush, say -- is really to blame. And they'll just try more of the same.
I think the only way things really change is a new generation comes along that isn't invested in the original decision. People who didn't vote for Obama, have no psychological skin in the game of whether it was a doofus decision or not. Only they can squarely call the failure a failure.
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This page contains a single entry by Rand Simberg published on October 17, 2008 10:58 AM.
In four years, after the predicted problems have come to pass, many Americans will say, "But that's not what we intended -- why didn't anyone tell us before we adopted these policies?" But by that time it will be too late, just as we're seeing with the banking crisis.
Unfortunately, the Republicans don't seem to be mounting much of an opposition. In my home state of Colorado, they are losing support because too many are concerned about opposing gay marriage, abortion, and stem cell research, rather than fighting for free markets and sound economic policies:
http://www.freecolorado.com/2008/10/faith-based-politics-costs-colorado.html
Perhaps a few years in the political wilderness will help teach them a lesson. But I'm not holding my breath. And in the meantime, the country will pay a heavy (and avoidable) price for the follies of both major political parties...
Hmmmmm.
WSJ eh?
Let me point out that it was the WSJ, along with a number of other idiot Republicans, that foisted McCain on the rest of us.
Not to mention their love of illegal immigration as a way of pandering to hispanics.
So I take anything from the WSJ with a rather large grain of salt.
In four years, after the predicted problems have come to pass, many Americans will say, "But that's not what we intended -- why didn't anyone tell us before we adopted these policies?"
Unfortunately, I think not. That's not how people work. When Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac came a-cropper, Senator Dodd and his Democratic colleagues could have said oh shit, that's not what we intended by all this community organizin' makin' loans so poor people can have The American Dream.
Nope. Turns out to be the fault of Bush deregulation, which we've been warning and warning about. (Which "deregulation" in particular? Which rule was abandoned that would have saved the day? Don't bug me about that sort of picayune crap. It's deregulation, damn it.)
The human mind finds it much easier to rationalize some clever theory about how, actually, it was right all along, than accept that it was wrong.
So when the economy mopes around, because all the capital that could start it going is being sucked up by Washington, to be flung away on this or that pointless feel-good project, people who voted in The O and his team of Chicago crooks and Clinton retreads are not going to smack their foreheads and say we wuz wrong! They're going to figure out a clever theory that explains how they were right, but some traditional enemy -- George Bush, say -- is really to blame. And they'll just try more of the same.
I think the only way things really change is a new generation comes along that isn't invested in the original decision. People who didn't vote for Obama, have no psychological skin in the game of whether it was a doofus decision or not. Only they can squarely call the failure a failure.