The great denials
If you like to listen to music while you read,
here are four options:
Handel’s Dettingen Te Deum
(Unfortunately with some video and audio glitches.)
Text of the Te Deum; @Wikipedia
Text of the Stabat Mater
(If you like dramatic, passionate singing, try selections 8 and 13 in the above!)
The above is of course utterly familiar;
the reason for putting it here is the quality of this performance.
(This “video” does not show the performance;
rather, the biblical texts being sung.)
For many more options, mainly of pre-1750 classical music, see
kwhmusic.blogspot.com.
Now on to the subject of this post:
Most Americans seem to agree that
America has been, in the formulation of popular polling,
“on the wrong track”
for at least the first decade of the twenty-first century.
Evident reasons for a very appropriate state of concern include
have certainly done a fine job of reporting on all these problems.
But I believe they have been counter-productive
both in diagnosing the causes of these problems
and in proposing effective solutions for those problems.
The result is that,
under current policies or even those proposed by the “elite”,
things will not get better.
This post is my modest :-) attempt
to propose a better problem analysis and set of solutions
than the “elite” seems willing or able to do.
To set the mood, recall the familiar proverb
For want of an accurate diagnosis of what is causing America’s problems,
all hope of solving them is impossible.
is obvious to everyone.
The question is Why?
Without an accurate and honest answer to that question,
we are indeed doomed to wars without end,
which will, without the slightest doubt in my mind,
only get far, far more deadly for Americans
when, for example,
the growing anti-Americanism in Pakistan leads to
the “liberation” of a Pakistani nuke
and the resultant annihilation of an American city.
And that is surely not the only negative scenario likely to play out.
Further, the internal scrutinazation of Americans to prevent terrorism
will only become more and more onerous,
leading to the progressive Israelization of not only our foreign policy,
but also our internal security procedures (e.g.).
As we all know, the most powerful elements in the “elite”
have tried to place all the blame on the American/Muslim hostilities
on the Muslim side:
“They hate us for our freedoms, etc.”
Continuing down that road,
ignoring the real reasons why they fight us in so many ways,
will lead to the perpetual war sketched above.
The intelligent alternative is to examine
the real reasons why they oppose us.
This isn’t so hard to do,
some authors on the fringe of the “party line” of the elite
have covered the real reasons in careful and, I am quite sure, accurate detail.
I have excerpted from those authors in several posts in this blog, including
As to what should be done,
perhaps a combination (perhaps all) of the following actions would help:
Why are companies not hiring?
Why did so many jobs go overseas?
I don’t think it is that corporations, whether American or multinational,
have anything intrinsic against the American worker.
It is simply a business decision:
The cost of American labor is higher than labor abroad.
I think few people deny that,
but somehow they deny the significance of it,
so we get, for example,
Democrats talking about “green jobs” and Republicans talking about tax cuts,
neither of which solves the fundamental issue.
What we need to do is
carefully and rigorously delineate the consequences of that issue,
which I am sure will be found to be a coming calamity for the American economy,
and come up with specific plans for rectifying that issue.
I haven’t the slightest doubt that each proposed alternative
will be unpalatable for some,
but the alternative of doing nothing is far worse for the general public.
Currently, as stated above, the basic issues are not being addressed.
Consider, for example,
the conclusion of the 2010-08-28 Washington Post editorial
“Fed's capacity to stimulate economy is limited”
(emphasis and a comment are added):
My response:
This is the elite?
These clowns don’t begin to know how to address a problem.
After correctly identifying that
there is a structural problem in the economy,
before rushing to give their preferred answer
(one, by the way, which is almost guaranteed
to make the people the Post cares about wealthier,
but to do next to nothing to solve the nation’s real economic problems),
the first necessary step is to identify
what the problems really are, and their causes.
Further, the problem should be put in a historical perspective.
Why are we now having this problem? What went wrong?
We really need to look more broadly at what the economy’s problems are.
Surely they are not just the lack of “a wave of growth”.
In fact, the major problems are not only the lack of jobs,
but also the federal and trade deficits.
All of these are related.
In particular, the trade deficit means that
jobs which could have gone to Americans went to foreigners.
So the fundamental question is:
Why did all those jobs go overseas?
Why did investing in foreigners become more profitable to the corporations
than investments made at home?
Without addressing this issue, which the elite has done everything possible to avoid, no progress can be made on the fundamental issue.
No amount of the “elite” ’s favorite solutions to all problems,
more education and perhaps more immigration,
will solve the problem for America’s historically dominant demographic,
nor for America itself,
as those deficits are a problem for the entire nation.
Look at the agenda the elite has set for the nation since, say, 1960.
We have heard a lot about the need for what they call “social justice.”
We have heard a lot about the needs of “Women, Children, and Families.”
But when have you ever heard a concern about
the need to keep America competitive with the rest of the world?
To those who make up the new “elite”,
what they self-flatteringly call the Meritocracy,
when was industrial competiveness ever an issue?
How often do you hear Paul Krugman or Tom Friedman worry about
America’s competitiveness or the balance of trade?
For an example of how the elite is totally in denial about the depth and causes of America’s economic woes,
note the following quote from Professor Stephen M. Walt:
By GEOFFREY WHEATCROFT
New York Times Review, 2012-01-01
here are four options:
Handel’s Dettingen Te Deum
(Unfortunately with some video and audio glitches.)
Text of the Te Deum; @Wikipedia
Text of the Stabat Mater
(If you like dramatic, passionate singing, try selections 8 and 13 in the above!)
The above is of course utterly familiar;
the reason for putting it here is the quality of this performance.
(This “video” does not show the performance;
rather, the biblical texts being sung.)
For many more options, mainly of pre-1750 classical music, see
kwhmusic.blogspot.com.
Now on to the subject of this post:
Most Americans seem to agree that
America has been, in the formulation of popular polling,
“on the wrong track”
for at least the first decade of the twenty-first century.
Evident reasons for a very appropriate state of concern include
an attack on America itself,
constant wars without a clear ending point ever since,
economic and financial malaise that leapt to the front page in 2008
but actually began far earlier,
large-scale unemployment without a clear end, and
ever-growing federal, state, local and individual debts and deficits.
have certainly done a fine job of reporting on all these problems.
But I believe they have been counter-productive
both in diagnosing the causes of these problems
and in proposing effective solutions for those problems.
The result is that,
under current policies or even those proposed by the “elite”,
things will not get better.
This post is my modest :-) attempt
to propose a better problem analysis and set of solutions
than the “elite” seems willing or able to do.
To set the mood, recall the familiar proverb
For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
For want of an accurate diagnosis of what is causing America’s problems,
all hope of solving them is impossible.
Foreign Policy
That American relations with much of the Islamic world are in a messis obvious to everyone.
The question is Why?
Without an accurate and honest answer to that question,
we are indeed doomed to wars without end,
which will, without the slightest doubt in my mind,
only get far, far more deadly for Americans
when, for example,
the growing anti-Americanism in Pakistan leads to
the “liberation” of a Pakistani nuke
and the resultant annihilation of an American city.
And that is surely not the only negative scenario likely to play out.
Further, the internal scrutinazation of Americans to prevent terrorism
will only become more and more onerous,
leading to the progressive Israelization of not only our foreign policy,
but also our internal security procedures (e.g.).
As we all know, the most powerful elements in the “elite”
have tried to place all the blame on the American/Muslim hostilities
on the Muslim side:
“They hate us for our freedoms, etc.”
Continuing down that road,
ignoring the real reasons why they fight us in so many ways,
will lead to the perpetual war sketched above.
The intelligent alternative is to examine
the real reasons why they oppose us.
This isn’t so hard to do,
some authors on the fringe of the “party line” of the elite
have covered the real reasons in careful and, I am quite sure, accurate detail.
I have excerpted from those authors in several posts in this blog, including
Root causes of Islamic terrorism
Why they hate us
What “Islamic extremists” say
Imperial Hubris and its critics (based on Michael Scheuer’s book)
Lebanon 1982: the spark for 9/11
As to what should be done,
perhaps a combination (perhaps all) of the following actions would help:
- Take seriously the offer bin Laden and al-Zawahiri made several years ago
to enter into truce negotiations.
I don’t see how it would hurt to see what they had in mind.
(Especially since we seem unfathomably unable to locate and kill them.) - Put into play
(and I know the Jews will fight this to the (metaphorical) death)
the suggestions John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt made
in the conclusion to their book The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. - Scale back our attempts to perform social engineering on
the Middle East and/or Islamic world.
Acknowledge and accept the dictum of Samuel Huntington:Western intervention in the affairs of other civilizations
In particular, end our attempts to
is probably
the single most dangerous source
of instability and potential global conflict
in a multicivilizational world.
force-feed feminism on those societies.
Economic policies
Why are companies not hiring?
Why did so many jobs go overseas?
I don’t think it is that corporations, whether American or multinational,
have anything intrinsic against the American worker.
It is simply a business decision:
The cost of American labor is higher than labor abroad.
I think few people deny that,
but somehow they deny the significance of it,
so we get, for example,
Democrats talking about “green jobs” and Republicans talking about tax cuts,
neither of which solves the fundamental issue.
What we need to do is
carefully and rigorously delineate the consequences of that issue,
which I am sure will be found to be a coming calamity for the American economy,
and come up with specific plans for rectifying that issue.
I haven’t the slightest doubt that each proposed alternative
will be unpalatable for some,
but the alternative of doing nothing is far worse for the general public.
Currently, as stated above, the basic issues are not being addressed.
Consider, for example,
the conclusion of the 2010-08-28 Washington Post editorial
“Fed's capacity to stimulate economy is limited”
(emphasis and a comment are added):
The Fed’s inability this time to magically produce a wave of growth,
even when abetted by fiscal stimulus,
suggests that the United States faces a crisis
that is structural rather than cyclical.
[Good point.
But the Post, and others should have observed it far earlier.
For example,
it was observed in 1998 by Patrick Buchanan in The Great Betrayal.
]The answers lie not inThis is a much harder job,
kick-starting old engines of growth
such as housing and consumer spending.
Instead, the challenge is
to identify and invest in new opportunities
and equip the American people --
through education, tax reform and entitlement reform --
to take advantage of them.
one that will require the concerted attention of
public and private sector leaders, at federal and state levels,
over many years.
Mr. Bernanke can help
by keeping the economy functioning in the meantime.
But Fed policy is no substitute for a reshaping of the economy.
My response:
This is the elite?
These clowns don’t begin to know how to address a problem.
After correctly identifying that
there is a structural problem in the economy,
before rushing to give their preferred answer
(one, by the way, which is almost guaranteed
to make the people the Post cares about wealthier,
but to do next to nothing to solve the nation’s real economic problems),
the first necessary step is to identify
what the problems really are, and their causes.
Further, the problem should be put in a historical perspective.
Why are we now having this problem? What went wrong?
We really need to look more broadly at what the economy’s problems are.
Surely they are not just the lack of “a wave of growth”.
In fact, the major problems are not only the lack of jobs,
but also the federal and trade deficits.
All of these are related.
In particular, the trade deficit means that
jobs which could have gone to Americans went to foreigners.
So the fundamental question is:
Why did all those jobs go overseas?
Why did investing in foreigners become more profitable to the corporations
than investments made at home?
Without addressing this issue, which the elite has done everything possible to avoid, no progress can be made on the fundamental issue.
No amount of the “elite” ’s favorite solutions to all problems,
more education and perhaps more immigration,
will solve the problem for America’s historically dominant demographic,
nor for America itself,
as those deficits are a problem for the entire nation.
Look at the agenda the elite has set for the nation since, say, 1960.
We have heard a lot about the need for what they call “social justice.”
We have heard a lot about the needs of “Women, Children, and Families.”
But when have you ever heard a concern about
the need to keep America competitive with the rest of the world?
To those who make up the new “elite”,
what they self-flatteringly call the Meritocracy,
when was industrial competiveness ever an issue?
How often do you hear Paul Krugman or Tom Friedman worry about
America’s competitiveness or the balance of trade?
For an example of how the elite is totally in denial about the depth and causes of America’s economic woes,
note the following quote from Professor Stephen M. Walt:
The second trend is
the self-inflicted damage to the U.S. economy,
a consequence of the Bush administration's profligacy
and the financial crisis of 2007.
[Really, Professor Walt?
You see no problem in the transfer of
American technological and manufacturing know-how
to East Asia?
You think that, once the dollar collapses
(or do you not think that likely?)
and wage costs are effectively equalized between Asia and the U.S.,
that the Chinese and Japanese will happily transfer
the manufacturing technology they have now amassed
back to the U.S.,
so that the U.S. may effectively compete with them again?]
The United States faces a mountain of debt,
the near-certainty of persistent federal deficits,
and a dysfunctional political system
that cannot seem to make hard choices.
This situation does not mean the United States
is about to fall from the ranks of the great powers,
but the contrast with earlier periods --
and especially the immediate aftermath of World War II --
is stunning.
Miscellaneous Articles
2012-01-01-NYT-Wheatcroft
A World in Denial of What It KnowsBy GEOFFREY WHEATCROFT
New York Times Review, 2012-01-01
Labels: denials, economy, foreign policy
posted by KHarbaugh at 12:00
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