America Is A Wonderful Country
Now we hear that the AIG bonus money was paid out last Friday. Those bonuses won't be returned. What could the administration and AIG have been thinking? It's a wonder there isn't a revolutionary mob at the doors of the kings (and they are mostly male) of AIG (my former neighbor included).
There are so many causes of the recent financial collapse and each person will have a different explanation of the causes when they think about it. Memories fragment over time. The mists of time prevail.
If we could only rewind the clock and go back and change what went wrong. How far back would we have to go? Would we really want to go back to a possibly mythical simpler time with a straightforward, easy set of rules?
Looking forward, how will America adjust to new tight economic credit markets? If the Chinese obtain dominating control of our market and tighten credit? No American wants to go there. No one in the administration wants to talk about it, or even acknowledge it.
The focus is on credit and the economy, housing, foreclosures, lending limits, the stock market. The large issues of energy, healthcare and educational reform will have to wait.
What is the destiny of America that it can map out by itself and form a strategy to get there? What does America do well, the best in the world?
Here are a few important social values:
1. education for all.
2. cars, making and distributing, for almost all adults, green initiatives notwithstanding, and the oil and gas to run them.
3. household heat for all.
4. computer and software makers.
5. wealth consciousness and compassion for those less fortunate.
6. washers and dryers.
7. air conditioners.
8. crowd control when necessary, e.g. Disney Parks.
9. Disney and other outdoor parks.
10. food distribution is excellent.
11. Post office delivery sometimes is next day.
12. excellent highway infrastructure.
13. delivery services, like UPS and Fedex.
14. news services are pioneers.
There are so many more that I haven't listed. These above are a few values to get you thinking about "what makes America great". A friendly bank-lending environment may have dropped off my list. Financial services need better regulation to help Americans hold onto democratic ideals in the country. Saving AIG and Goldman and other companies involved in the bailout, if that's been useful, has many of us wondering when improvement will become clear.
As Dr. Christina Romer said yesterday on "Meet the Press", America has a wonderful base of labor, a capital base, technology and we will learn how to recover from this current economic "mess". She says it will take some time, but things should improve. Sales should pick up, jobs numbers should turn around, and consumer confidence should return.
Today's rocky stock market didn't instill much confidence. But hey, tomorrow is a new day.
There are so many causes of the recent financial collapse and each person will have a different explanation of the causes when they think about it. Memories fragment over time. The mists of time prevail.
If we could only rewind the clock and go back and change what went wrong. How far back would we have to go? Would we really want to go back to a possibly mythical simpler time with a straightforward, easy set of rules?
Looking forward, how will America adjust to new tight economic credit markets? If the Chinese obtain dominating control of our market and tighten credit? No American wants to go there. No one in the administration wants to talk about it, or even acknowledge it.
The focus is on credit and the economy, housing, foreclosures, lending limits, the stock market. The large issues of energy, healthcare and educational reform will have to wait.
What is the destiny of America that it can map out by itself and form a strategy to get there? What does America do well, the best in the world?
Here are a few important social values:
1. education for all.
2. cars, making and distributing, for almost all adults, green initiatives notwithstanding, and the oil and gas to run them.
3. household heat for all.
4. computer and software makers.
5. wealth consciousness and compassion for those less fortunate.
6. washers and dryers.
7. air conditioners.
8. crowd control when necessary, e.g. Disney Parks.
9. Disney and other outdoor parks.
10. food distribution is excellent.
11. Post office delivery sometimes is next day.
12. excellent highway infrastructure.
13. delivery services, like UPS and Fedex.
14. news services are pioneers.
There are so many more that I haven't listed. These above are a few values to get you thinking about "what makes America great". A friendly bank-lending environment may have dropped off my list. Financial services need better regulation to help Americans hold onto democratic ideals in the country. Saving AIG and Goldman and other companies involved in the bailout, if that's been useful, has many of us wondering when improvement will become clear.
As Dr. Christina Romer said yesterday on "Meet the Press", America has a wonderful base of labor, a capital base, technology and we will learn how to recover from this current economic "mess". She says it will take some time, but things should improve. Sales should pick up, jobs numbers should turn around, and consumer confidence should return.
Today's rocky stock market didn't instill much confidence. But hey, tomorrow is a new day.