Boiling the Frog - Krugman

Is America on its way to becoming a boiled frog? I’m referring, of course, to the proverbial frog that, placed in a pot of cold water that is gradually heated, never realizes the danger it’s in and is boiled alive. Real frogs will, in fact, jump out of the pot — but never mind. The hypothetical boiled frog is a useful metaphor for a very real problem: the difficulty of responding to disasters that creep up on you a bit at a time.

And creeping disasters are what we mostly face these days.

I started thinking about boiled frogs recently as I watched the depressing state of debate over both economic and environmental policy. These are both areas in which there is a substantial lag before policy actions have their full effect — a year or more in the case of the economy, decades in the case of the planet — yet in which it’s very hard to get people to do what it takes to head off a catastrophe foretold.

And right now, both the economic and the environmental frogs are sitting still while the water gets hotter.

Start with economics: last winter the economy was in acute crisis, with a replay of the Great Depression seeming all too possible. And there was a fairly strong policy response in the form of the Obama stimulus plan, even if that plan wasn’t as strong as some of us thought it should have been.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/13/opinion/13krugman.html?th&emc=th

Boiled fresh courtesy of the Global Warming deep ocean fryer.

We "undid" the New Deal laws and got economic meltdown.

Why not just reverse the "undid"?

...a dumbed down electorate...and the ability to get away with almost anything. So now that the shitball is rolling...it's sort of hard to change it's direction? Especially when many of those that helped create the mess can't even see the mess they've made.

My advice? If you are a boomer or in that range...go ahead and live for yourself....meaning...doan worry 'bout it...but use up only your share. The younger people...many who might not be able to see a train coming if they were standing on the tracks...will be the ones to suffer the most. The boomers will be dead or senile by 2030...and before the worst of the wars...droughts...floods...and refugees hit.

Most people probably think it's all bullcrap anyway...even approx 1/2 the boomers or more. Those who feel they have benefited the most from the long credit binge...will be the last ones wanting change?

So...if you are even partially aware...just try to get off the tracks yourself...and watch to see what happens.