Thursday, October 25, 2012

Good--No, Great Ideas



 

Jack Kerouac, the writer, once said that good ideas are a dime a dozen. I've come to believe that they do more harm than good and that great ideas do even more harm.

 

In times like these, it's understandable that people yearn for solutions, gravitate to ideas, which, if implemented, would bring some improvement to our lives. The problem is that there are reasons why things are as they are, and that the destruction of our quality of life did not all take place during the last four to twelve years but rather during the last fifty. Without a solid understanding of the causes of our current problems and the forces that keep them in place, and a plan to neutralize them, we're doomed to a future of 'try this, try that' without ever regaining the quality of life historically associated with our country. For example, the recent financial crisis (meltdown) is not the cause of our situation--it's a symptom.

 

'The Economist', my absolute favorite publication, has published a special report, The New Progressivism*, in which they do a superlative job of analyzing the world's economic/social problems, including our own. I strongly recommend that you read it. You'll find out, among other things, that income inequality is a symptom, that dealing with it is critical to growth, and why current plans to deal with it won't work. And you will better understand how crony capitalism (government by special interests, including public sector unions) stifles growth.

 

Alas, 'The Economist', as always, is long on analysis and proscription of policy changes but short on the nitty-gritty of getting it done. It's up to us (We have seen the enemy, and it's us.) The American public is clearly enjoying the current campaign and has no time for real problems; our media are making a bundle providing tons of infotainment, and our politicians love the current system (except for all that time on the phone). In Europe, things still aren't bad enough to call a spade a spade, so we can see that we've got a ways to go.

 

What does it take? Is anybody out there pissed off? How pissed off?


Joe Bakewell
 
*The Economist, October 13-19, 2012

 
 

 

 

 

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