To react to your thoughts (below) on a nation of instant gratification, I feel that America's near-zero savings rate. We're basically spending everything that we make. Ironically, economists used to say this wasn't much of a problem because home equity doesn't count in the official savings figures; this argument is now a fair bit weaker. This would appear to be a private problem; if you don't save for retirement, why should I care? But we now know from the mortgage meltdown that stupid private behavior can come back to bite us all in the rear end.
Chronic federal budget deficits. This is simply the government version of the private savings problem. Most of the states are equally profligate as well. This is particularly unforgivable since the last decade has been a time of reasonable economic prosperity. What excuse do we have for buying ourselves extra marshmallows and then leaving the bill for our kids? I think it's inexcusable that we haven't asked ourselves to pay for the Iraq War. We've asked volunteers to do the fighting, and we'll leave the bill for others, too.
A lack of vision for how ambitious collective endeavors can change the trajectory of our lives. We get tax cuts. There are some good things about that, but we seem to have forgotten that tax cuts can't do anything that requires a major collective investment by society. Tax cuts could never have built the Interstate Highway System, one of the great public investments of all time.
GUEST BLOGGER: Chris Goodridge
Chris runs his own internet start-up in Oregon. He lives a fabulous single gay life with his very spoiled 3yo chihuahua named Boo.
Chronic federal budget deficits. This is simply the government version of the private savings problem. Most of the states are equally profligate as well. This is particularly unforgivable since the last decade has been a time of reasonable economic prosperity. What excuse do we have for buying ourselves extra marshmallows and then leaving the bill for our kids? I think it's inexcusable that we haven't asked ourselves to pay for the Iraq War. We've asked volunteers to do the fighting, and we'll leave the bill for others, too.
A lack of vision for how ambitious collective endeavors can change the trajectory of our lives. We get tax cuts. There are some good things about that, but we seem to have forgotten that tax cuts can't do anything that requires a major collective investment by society. Tax cuts could never have built the Interstate Highway System, one of the great public investments of all time.
GUEST BLOGGER: Chris Goodridge
Chris runs his own internet start-up in Oregon. He lives a fabulous single gay life with his very spoiled 3yo chihuahua named Boo.