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Ruminations in March

1. From its beginning, the American economy has used the power of government to assist business. At the same time, business has very often called publicly for small government, hoping to keep taxes and regulations to a minimum, thus maximizing profit. These days, large government seems inevitable. We need its services in many ways, of course. Medicare and Medicaid cover about 90 million Americans, a number that will leap as the population ages. Agriculture is dependent on Congressional legislation. We need government to protect us from terrorists. The lesson we’ve relearned of late is that we also need a strong federal government to protect us from elements within the business community. Our current financial crisis makes clear the need for tighter federal supervision of the banking industry. A Bear Stearns board member told a reporter, “I blame the system, I blame greed. Wall Street is really predicated on greed. This could happen to any firm.” Very familiar language to American historians. Still, the deeper issue is not about government or free enterprise. This crisis is no different from most in that ethics and morality are at the very center of it. How many business and law schools understand that? Or care?

2. The first study of its kind reveals that at least one in girls aged 14 to 19 girls in this country, more than 3 million teens, has a sexually transmitted disease. Nearly half of the black girls studied had at least one STD. The study, released by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, showed that nearly half of the girls who acknowledged having had sex were infected. The medical profession recommends more teen screening and three-dose vaccine shots for girls aged 11-12, with catch up shots for females aged 13 to 26. One can well imagine the public schools requiring the shots. Brave new world, liberated and enlightened. You know, “progressive.”

3. On March 10, economist Brad Schiller, writing in the Wall Street Journal, clarified and refuted the political rhetoric about “tax cuts for the rich” and the increasing plight of the middle class and the poor. In fact, he shows, living standards are rising across the board and have been for years. “Just since 2000 GDP has risen by 18% while the population has grown by 6%. So per capita incomes have clearly been rising. The growth of per capita income since 1980 or 1970 has simply been spectacular.” Schiller points out that the breakdown of the traditional family and the vast wave of immigrants, legal and illegal, skew the census data often used by Democratic presidential candidates. “According to the Labor Department, personal consumption spending has risen by $2.5 trillion since 2000. More Americans own homes and new cars today than ever before”....Laptop computers, iPhones and flat-panel TVs are fast becoming necessities rather than luxury items.”

4. How rich are we? Americans spent about $1 billion last year to change the tune of their cellphone ringers. The average family spends $2,700 a year dining out. We now spend $36 billion a year on our pets. Almost one in three poor families has at least two cars. In the past quarter century, our economy has spent only 16 months in recession. For the previous 25 years, the nation spent more than 60 months in recession.

5. So Eliot Spitzer spent tens of thousands of private dollars on call girls. So what? Weren’t we told that such conduct doesn’t matter? Bill Clinton’s dalliance with Monica was widely dismissed as unimportant. One leftist lady told me, with considerable passion, “I hope they had a good time.” John F. Kennedy pursued women all his life, including his years at the White House. The press said nothing then and continues to blank out this side of JFK’s record. So what’s the issue now? Could it be that Spitzer’s conduct was sinful, that he disgraced his office, and made himself vulnerable to blackmail? Nah, the media doesn’t think that way anymore. The governor initially thought he could ride out the storm. So why was public opinion so strongly opposed to the Democrat, a fact that led to his resignation (along with impeachment threats from Republicans and fears about prosecution)? A cheerful thought: It may take another generation or two to make most Americans morally numb.

6. Columnist Peggy Noonan has called upon John McCain to share with us his deepest thoughts. Voters, she writes, “hunger for coherence, for a philosophical thread that holds all the positions together.” Journalists can be so silly. Most Americans, when interested in politics at all, want images, slogans, and generalities; it’s us versus them; a world of heroes and villains. They would like candidates to be honest, of course, but that isn’t philosophy or theology. In fact, how many politicians at any level have wrestled at length with life’s deepest issues, constructing a thoughtful and coherent system that is defensible and compelling? With rare exceptions, that is not in the job description. And never was. Reality 101, Peggy.

Posted on Saturday, March 29, 2008 at 7:06 AM | Comments (0) | Return

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