America is not lost yet.(nytimes.com)
nytimes.com
America is not lost yet.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/opinion/08krugman.html
3 comments
This article is quintessential partisan politics of a non-tech nature. I have opinions on it. You probably have opinions on it. If this site were Elephant Donkey Deathmatch 2.0: Now With More Rancor, our opinions might even matter. More business/tech/etc, please. (If you want to discuss the NYT they have really spiffy Rails/Flash visualizations and a dying business model. Bam, on topic, squared.)
The number one reason to believe that America is lost is quite simply that it has lost the ability to change. Moneyed interests (with more to come thanks to the recent SCOTUS ruling), hyper-partisanship and a complacent, immature behaviour all around means that no matter which way the world heads in the coming decades, America will be left living in the past.
It'd be nice if I were wrong, so someone try and give me a realistic scenario under which the US will take responsible, long-term decisions including:
- raising taxes to cut the deficit.
- reforming healthcare to contain costs
- raising the SS age and/or cutting payments.
It'd be nice if I were wrong, so someone try and give me a realistic scenario under which the US will take responsible, long-term decisions including:
- raising taxes to cut the deficit.
- reforming healthcare to contain costs
- raising the SS age and/or cutting payments.
Broad summary: an editorial containing one half-hearted effort at a comparison to a historical situation that would probably be interesting if it were developed at all, but which is instead promptly abandoned in favour of whinging about American politics in general, and the author's less favourite political party in particular.
Did I get the gist correctly?
Did I get the gist correctly?