we've started to go to saturday night church and i have to tell you...it's wonderful. it's like having two saturday mornings.
when i was little, we always went to church. i remember skipping once...when i had the CHICKEN POX. that's about all that would get you pardoned from sunday school. well, my dad let me in on the best show ever -- sunday morning on cbs. he'd kind of taunt us with it. it would start and then it was off to church.
as i've gotten older...the one thing i love, love, love is being able to catch sunday morning. i don't dvr it. it's a great show, but it really must be watched on sunday morning. it reminds me of a connection with my dad, who, truth be told, back then would have rather stayed home to watch it. i don't condone missing church...usually. it's just now, i get to go to church and see sunday morning. with coffee. with max. while my teenager's still asleep.
so this morning was really great. barbie and pelican island. and a commentary from ben stein. you probably remember him from ferris bueller's day off. remember? bueller....bueller...bueller?
below, i'm going to do the unpardonable and NOT link. i'm pasting the entirety of his commentary. please read it all. i've been shouting this inwardly for the past month, and it was both vindicating and inspiring to hear it spoken. enjoy. and then go shopping, please.
Okay. Let me put on my weather-beaten economist's hat again and try to explain something important.As we all know, we are in a recession that is bad and getting worse. So, basic question: How do we get out of it?Well, look at it this way. The economy grows because of two factors: M, which is the quantity of money in the economy, which is controlled mostly by the Federal Reserve; and V, the velocity of money, or the rate at which it changes hands - or, as one might say, the speed with which it is borrowed, invested and spent.Mr. Ben Bernanke, head of the Federal Reserve, has been doing a fine job of keeping the supply of money pumped up. Score one for him.But the velocity of money has slowed dramatically.People at every level are afraid to spend because they fear conditions will get worse and they're going to need the money in the future just to survive. So they don't spend it.One of the big contributors to fear is the big goombahs in the society saying how bad things are. When Mr. Obama or his economists tell us how terrible things are and how they're going to get worse, they're shooting fear into the economic bloodstream and that hurts velocity and kills stocks.Notice that recently Ben Bernanke said the recession might end this year, and the stock market rocketed up that day.What we need, as Bill Clinton aptly pointed out recently, is more cheerleading and less fear-mongering. We elected Mr. Obama to be the National Spirit Leader, not National Scary Storyteller.If Mr. Obama and Mr. Geithner, his Treasury Secretary, and Mr. Volcker, his well-respected advisor, and some real superstars like Warren Buffett and Jack Welch came out and said, "The recession will end within 12 months. We are sure of it," the recession WOULD end in 12 months.It's all about confidence and the confidence of heavy-hitters means a lot.After all, no one is bombing our cities right now or poisoning our rivers. This whole thing is about confidence. Ninety-two percent of us are still employed. Roughly 90+ percent are not behind on our mortgages. If we had some confidence, we could get this ball rolling again.Let's roll!
6 comments:
em, i love sunday morning. i watch it every...well, sunday morning.
it's my fave. if i miss it, i feel like my entire week will be off. like, i need a re-do.
i loved the piece on van morrison. our first dance as husband and wife was to a van morrison song. good times. love you.
me, too. he fascinates me. genius, i think. and i hope that if i'm ever that old, that i'll need convincing that my work was good.
You know I couldn't resist commenting on Mr. Stein's comments.
First, he's wrong about unemployment. New numbers came out this week that place unemployment at 14%, not 8%.
Second, economists say the recession is going to continue and the traders listen to economists. Even if Obama was our national cheerleader, there is no guarantee the stock market would rebound. The problem is much bigger than just confidence, though I do agree that confidence plays a big role. As long as companies keep running out of capital though, no reasonable amount of consumer spending will save them. Plus, if Obama were telling us everything will be fine, or worse, everything is fine, while the stock market continues to plummet, he'll look like an idiot and like he's out of touch.
I didn't elect Obama to be a National Spirit Leader, I elected him to be a competent President. I think that might include telling the truth about the economy.
Off soapbox. :D
As a sidenote, I hope I'm not that annoying liberal who always comments. If I'm annoying, feel free to tell me and I'll just shut up. :)
Good Point you know Scott and I don't scare away too easily. We started that kitchen rennovation project. Lowes and Home Depot should be good to go! :) J/K. I love Sunday morning too! --if only there was a saturday night church here in LR that wasn't Catholic Mass...
Jess(ica)...the one that's not my sister... :)first, you are not annoying. it is good for my brain to argue. and since i can't really do it in public, the web is the next best place.
I think Mr. Stein is referring to the fact that Obama took several major press conferences to impress upon everyone that this was "the worst," even going so far as to claim that situation was more dire than the Great Depression, which many economists (even the liberals) say is not quite apples to apples. I don't think anyone expected him to get up and say..."Hey, y'all...it's really not as bad as you think." As any good marketer can tell you...it's all in the presentation.
Granted, I expect our leader to face the facts. I just think Obama could have used those moments to spend more time explaining why his plan was going to work, and not postulating on why we needed a plan in the first place.
And as a good conservative, i believe it's OK for companies to run out of capital. it means they weren't organized well in the first place and that they need to figure out a new way of doing things because the old way doesn't work.
when those companies and banks fail (provided they aren't rewarded for poor performance by government handouts), it clears the market for the entrance of innovative, fiscally responsible companies and banks.
oh. and as of this morning, the bls lists unemployment at 8.1%.
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