We need to be stimulated

On the outside everything looks calm and normal.
People are still shopping, working and complaining and being friendly.
But inside, in the subconscious, quiet recesses of the mind of every person we see, must lurk sheer terror and panic.
Because everything we see, read and hear convinces us that we are in for some dire years ahead.
It’s Grapes of Wrath time right around the corner.
And the worst part is, that we are helpless to do anything about it.

Many of the CEO’s of the world have turned out to be untrustworthy and incompetent. So too, most of our brave-talking politicians.
It’s taken widespread bank failures in order for our leaders to get serious. Serious about infrastructure, the environment and to stop kidding ourselves about the limits of credit.

Don Pittis is the senior producer of CBC News Business.
He wears suspenders. Just like Larry King.
What does he have to say?

Under the current rescue plan, fixing the U.S. economy is like a repair job on a broken down Chevy. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, with his bank bailout, is replacing the fuel pump and tinkering with the carburetor.
A crowd of taxpayers is lined up behind the old clunker, using their stimulus money to push. Obama’s up front, ready to pop the clutch so the engine can start pulling on its own.
In a purely mechanistic sense, that sounds as if it should work. That is, if everything else were equal.

He goes on to describe the socio-economic situation at the moment …

This is after the gold rush, when the Klondikers head home poor and frostbitten. The once-whistling soldiers come back from war to write sad poems.

Oh God, just shoot me.

But the point of Don’s essay is betrayed in the title –
Stimulus debates leave human factor out of equation.
And that’s the part that’s not often addressed, even by President Obama.
The way Don puts it …

Money is only half of economics. And in the other half, which is human psychology, you can’t put the clock back.
A true recovery will need more than money. It will need a new sense of purpose, a new enthusiasm. And we, all of us, have to rest for a while.
And then we have to invent that new purpose. It will take time.

But most of all it will take a renewed, and strengthened, expectation of social responsibility.
Because greed is not good.
Just rampant.
And systemic, if we look at what drives capitalism.

Alan Greenspan, acknowledged under questioning that he had made a “mistake” in believing that banks, operating in their own self-interest, would do what was necessary to protect their shareholders and institutions. Greenspan called that “a flaw in the model … that defines how the world works.”
“A critical pillar to market competition and free markets did break down,” Greenspan said. “I still do not fully understand why it happened.”
Mr. Greenspan conceded: “Yes, I’ve found a flaw.”

My friend Bella always says “let’s end on a positive note.”
So OK, but there’s only one I can think of:

Obama is in the House!

And we elected him, so we can’t be all bad.

Oh wait, we elected Harper.

Yipes!

8 Comments

  • Anonymous says:

    Super Shamu! Haven’t heard that Inuit super hero name in years! Awesome!

  • Super Shamu says:

    I feel like a gluebag for insulting Dwight Williams.

  • Fake Ouimet says:

    Anonymoose, can you clarify something for us? Did we really have you going there or didn’™t we?

  • Anonymous says:

    Somewhat tangential CBC content, Allan?

    You mean this blog is actually about CBC?

    So ‘Allan’ is just a character obsessed with himself, just like on that show Wiretap, right?

    Good prank guys. You really had me going there! Whoever plays Dwight Williams is totally hilarious. It’s like the guy used to be in the SCA, but he converted to Scientology.

    Fuck, you guys really had me going there!

  • Allan says:

    Only if you don’t read the post.

  • Fake Ouimet says:

    Somewhat tangential CBC content, Allan?

  • Anonymous says:

    I believe we all have a purpose on this planet and that there is no quick fix to any problem. It takes discipline and love to change the state of our world and it begins with each one of us. Our internal environment is reflected in our external environment. If everyone were to make more conscious and loving choices with regards to their own health, finances,and psychology it would create massive change worldwide. At least we have come to a place where we recognize the problem. Now it's time to fix it. So let's all do our part and stop relying on other people to change our lives.

    PEACE & LOVE

  • Dwight Williams says:

    Whether it’s Harper or someone else in 24 Sussex, there’s something that we need to remember.

    The crazy thing is, we’ve already got several good purposes staring us all right in our faces. A lot of us have figured that out, and are ready to get on the job with those particular purposes. I don’t have to run down the whole “shopping list” of goals with you, as the audience here at this blog can figure most of it out themselves if they don’t already know.

    We know where to aim the cash and credit now.

    We just need to use it there.

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