Doreen is a much nicer person than I am. The more I think about it, almost everybody I know is nicer and more thoughtful than I am. They remember birthdays, anniversaries, think of things that people need and want much much better than I do. Oh, I think of these things during the course of the day but invariably I will forget about them before I get around to doing anything. I think I do have lots of skills in helping people and spent a lifetime in a helping profession and have those professional skills. I but I don’t offer them unless I’m asked, because I also know that unless asked those unasked for pieces of advice are largely ignored and often resented; butinskiness I believe in the technical term. Sad but true, most people are just much nicer than I am. So now I’m writing a blog giving out lots of unasked for advice and information, butinskynessing it with the best of them. Seems odd doesn’t it. But I just can’t seem to help myself. Go figure. [ed. This is probably where this article should end.]
All this butinskiness is prevalent in politics. One of the parts of butinskiness is people professing great knowledge when they don’t know buttkiss (I’m really driving my spellchecker nuts here.) I remember in the last election Ron Johnson proclaiming he was the only manufacturer running for office (conveniently forgetting all the businessmen there) inferring he was the only guy with real knowledge how fix the economy, or he was a micro economist claiming that entitled him to be a great macroeconomist. It’s rather like have a guy who is a great foot doctor saying that qualifies him to do brain surgery. The argument against his opponent, Russ Feingold was that he was there too long. That is akin to saying folk who have been trained for and have good job experience and have done a good job ought to fired for due diligence. Has anyone heard of what Ron Johnson has done since he got elected?
Now to a real question, how is it that all these people who are much nicer than I am have turned into such meanassed, hateful, name calling, ignorant jerks when it comes to political debate. I have not doubt that many, or at least some mean well, but I think as a whole we are scared to death about what is going on in the economy and since we don’t have a clue how to fix it, we yell at each other and play chicken with the nation’s economy.
Will the debt ceiling be raised? Of course, it has to be or the economy collapses. But the nice but clueless politicians will do what they’ve done for the last 100 years, they will raise the debt ceiling and then let the next generation of politicians yell about it. But where are the serious discussions about our problems taking place? Better yet, bipartisan problem solving debates?
I think they are taking place but we just don’t hear much about them as at media has just become part of the problem by just selling sensational new rather the productive news. I have recommended this blog site before but let me do so again. www.demandsideeconomics.net True, you won’t hear the supply side economics arguments which has failed over the last 3 plus decades, but you will read about real thoughtful bipartisan thinking going on. It’s a heavy site, and you might have to study it a bit to try and understand what they are talking about, but it’s worth it.
No comments:
Post a Comment