My 89 yo mother-in-law was watching Ice Road Truckers, so I had to

wait for a commercial. When she became unable to drive we moved her in with us, and the tv provides a little entertainment, as well as some "Sit and Be Fit" exercise ;)

I had read a Paul Krugman statement, the gist of which was "No one has EVER been rewarded for cutting the deficit".


me> "So what do you remember about Hoover and FDR, from what people said, or your parents, or whatever"

MIL> "Oh, Hoover was terrible. So many people were hurting. FDR created jobs"

me> "But didn't FDR cut his government spending after just a few years because the deficit was getting too high?"

MIL> "Oh, I don't know about that. But he created jobs when we needed them".


Maybe we shouldn't be so concerned about the deficit. Maybe that is our opponents leverage, and we are allowing them to use "deficit fear" to control our actions.

Maybe the administration should invest taxpayer money and create 10 million jobs to stimulate the economy. We should lead by example if we really believe people should invest in this country.

Because people vote for the people on their side. Those are the one's they remember.

To Obama's ears. Create some figgin' jobs, and soon. If you're looking for the cash, there's this little money pit called Afghanistan you might find some that you can use.

that minority of the smart, well-read, and informed people such as yourself. But that is a lot of work that takes time that a lot of people don't have, and won't invest. And the fact that is others do care about some amorphous "deficit thing".

I think, if we want ma and pa to remember us fondly at election time, we need a jobs program to put the 30 million people unemployed and underemployed back to work with 21st century jobs. Say a couple trillion bucks. Yet when that is suggested I inevitably hear someone say "but that would increase the deficit. And it is nearly always not a bond trader.

Others listen to CNN, Oprah, read their local paper or listen to their local news. They hear that the administration is costing each American x amount of dollars, that they owe more than they will earn that year, because "spending" is out of control, that we need to decrease social security coverage because it is bankrupting us, etc. They equate their own personal economy with that of the U.S., and to them it makes sense.

Ask them what the "current account" is, and you would get a blank stare.

Ask them who they should vote for because "these guys" are running us into a hole, and they will tell you the other guy. I know, 'cause I get calls from "push polls" and they are using that as a weapon. And if it didn't resonate with their focus groups, I would never hear it.

It's not the bond traders I am concerned with. It's ma and pa - and there are a LOT more of their votes than those of the bond traders, by tens of millions.

That's where this whole thing starts to fall down.

Students borrow money to go to college so they can do better later. It's considered an investment.

We buy houses and get mortgages to pay for them. They're considered an investment.

If we all waited until we had the cash to pay for absolutely everything, we'd do without an awful lot and we wouldn't be better off for it.

Of course, going to war in Iraq isn't an investment, corporate welfare isn't an investment, but lots of other government spending is.

Just that alone deserves a KnR! :hi:

"Reagan proved deficits don't matter."

-90% jimmy

asking everyone I could find who was old enough to remember 1929, what they recalled of the Crash. To a person they told me that the economy was already bad, and everyone knew bad times were coming. Just how bad, they didn't guess ahead of time.

when I supplement it with the memories of people that lived it.

I still like to read about it, I get details that people don't know or remember, but they add a lot of context
most books can't, imho.

"within living memory" thing.

WWI is no longer within living memory. WWII is, but rapidly fading away.

My husband's parents were born in 1909 and 1911, and each lived to be 94. We did spend some time with them around the time they turned 90 to ask about all sorts of things, what did they remember, and so on. Unfortunately, by the time we did that they weren't all that good at tracking what we wanted to talk about.

I have a friend whose 94 year old mother worked on the Thomas Dewey Presidential campaign. I have been after her to get someone out to ask her mom questions (health is beginning to fail) and at least record them. I learned about her stint with Dewey (I'd always known she was a good Republican, but was completely blown away by this) when, about ten years ago, my husband and I were visiting her. This woman has lived in Lincoln, Nebraska, her whole life (other than the Dewey thing) and we were driving her around somewhat at random, asking her to tell us about Lincoln. All of a sudden the Dewey thing came up. It was truly so cool!

I wish the people in DC would talk to her instead of right wing dipsticks as they do now.