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Restructuring Our Economy

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It’s time for a repeat – this one from 18 months ago, but it still needs to be said.  Over and over.

It’s one thing to complain about the economy – anyone can do that.  But what should be done to fix it?  Longtime readers know that I believe that our economic situation is a Managed Depression and that only a fundamental restructuring will end it.  This is my Six Point Plan to do exactly that.  It describes action by the Federal Government, which is to say that it is a political platform – meaning it is incomplete and taken from a certain perspective.  If you have questions, please follow the links.

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Fiscal Cliff

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The phrase is often credited to Ben Bernanke, but variations of it have been around for decades.  The “Fiscal Cliff” that went largely unmentioned during the campaign now dominates the talk out of Washington.  It is probably the most important thing that will happen in the next Congress, and it will certainly set the tone for the end of the Obama administration.  Yet almost no one has taken the time to explain what’s at stake in plain language.

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Soup’s On!

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After a big feast, the bones of whatever animal was consumed can be gathered and boiled down for soup.  Elections are a feast of sorts, if you prefer blather to meat, and it’s customary to make some kind of broth from the whole experience.

Why bother?  Those of us who are “into it” love to analyze trends and learn whatever we can along the way.  The next election will be shaped by these lessons more than anything else.  And if we’ve learned one thing in this deeply divided America, it’s that election season is pretty much forever.

Ready?

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William Penn

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After the election, it’s time to remind us all what it means to be an American.  This story, first run in 2010, is very important to me personally – and to our nation.  I hope you enjoy it as we all look ahead to a great American holiday.

It naturally comes up in my family just before Thanksgiving every year.  The Puritans’ deliverance to America is billed as a search for religious freedom, something which is a core value of our nation. It’s good that we celebrate such a thing, but do the Puritans really deserve credit for it?  The short answer is no, they do not, because they were seeking to establish their own theocracy – and across the ocean where no one would bother them seemed like the perfect place.

Religious tolerance as a founding principle of America came from a different source – William Penn, the “absolute proprietor” of Pennsylvania.  The reason that he doesn’t get the credit he deserves is murky at best, but may have its origins in a prejudice that most of us wouldn’t even understand today.  I think it’s time to correct that.
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Hot Buttons

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What more is there to say before the election?  This has the potential to be a big day for Democrats, and things are certainly breaking the right way here in Minnesota.  We’ve seen the momentum building all summer as there were signs that the economy, though still weak, is gaining strength.  Ohio and the rest of the industrial heartland seems to believe that it’s good enough, and they are polling strong for Obama.

What more is there to say?  It’s a good time to admit I was very wrong about something.  Something big, too.

Like most people concerned with the precarious state of our economy, I hate the emotional “hot button” issues.  I’ve called the relentless bleating on Fox a “War on Reality” and blasted the distractions created.  The bizarre and constant assault on women (and basic decency) hit my radar, but that was about it.  It simply seemed that we had better things to talk about as a people whose futures are tied together.  What I was wrong about was simple – that these issues, and our reaction to them on the left, is what strong coalitions are made from and once we kick some butt there will be no turning back.

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