Everyone—Republicans and Democrats, the White House and Congress, all the presidential candidates—agrees that what we need is a "fiscal stimulus." In other words, the government should go out and borrow even more money and pass it around for us to spend.
. . .
People will say they don't trust the government to spend the money wisely. I go further: I don't trust the government or the Washington establishment or the presidential candidates of either party or, for that matter, the voters themselves to come up with a stimulus that will do the job intended and not make matters worse. Often in the past, these stimuli have come too late or been too small to do anything but add to the deficit. But that's not my gripe. My gripe is that telling Americans they need to borrow and spend just a little bit more to get us past this recession—and then reform their ways—is like telling an alcoholic he needs one more drink before sobering up.
Okay, and now on to lighter topics. In honor of Laurie, here's another pic of the little guy:
[Clearly not too happy about being our Christmas gift!]
I'm also SUPER psyched about the new rocky gym I've been climbing at 3x/week. It's the Triangle Rock Club, and it is SWEET. I think I'm going to take in a camera the next time I go and post photos of some of my favorite routes. I've been able to climb a few 11s, a few 10s, and all the 9s in the building. While I'm not sure the ratings aren't a tad on the generous side, I feel decent about the level of my climbing. Now if only I could get back down to my summer's weight...I'd be HUGE!
We also played some tennis today, and I've got that season starting up soon. Dunno if I feel like I'm gonna belong on the team (feels like me skillz have eroded since the fall), but I'm looking forward to running around some more.
Oh, and today was Cae's first outward-facing ride in the Björn Snuggly! And then he watched Daddy and Uncle Tickles play some tennis, while sitting on Mommy's lap with a green blanket over his head...he looked like Yoda. It was priceless!
2 comments:
The photo isn't showing up, Tim. That makes me sooooo sad! :(
I want to see that Yoda photo!
I wish I could figure out how to make the economy better--because you're right, telling people they have to borrow and spend more to fix the economy is just plain horse crap. I get worried that our whole fiscal system seems to rely on consumers to keep it going. Does this mean that if a time comes when people don't want to overextend their budgets and refinance their mortgages, the economy will go down the toilet?
ALSO, I've heard several finance people on the news say that a recession will only happen when people believe it's happening--the whole self-fulfilling prophesy thing. Scary. At least the government is offering help to people with foreclosed homes. I'd rather my taxes go to that than to government-issued checks that try to get people to spend more.
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