There are certain truths that escape understanding even in
plain view; for instance, if one digs a hole deep enough, climbing out may be
difficult. Certainly, it will be much more
difficult, and a longer process still, than climbing out of a shallower
hole. Makes sense, right?
So let’s apply that to our economic situation. In past recessions, say since the 1930s, we've been climbing out of holes somewhat shallower than that of the Great Recession from which we
are currently struggling to extract ourselves.
Other recoveries (to which this one is unfavorably compared) have been
much more robust and far shorter in duration.
Does this surprise anyone?
Apparently, it does.
When there is no public money left, when we are deeply in
debt, when interest rates are already at historic lows, when credit markets are
inaccessible, when public payrolls are bloated, and when most Americans (who
decry the government’s poor management of its finances) have little to no
savings of their own, even after the good times when they should have been
socking it away, and finally, when they bought homes for which they paid far
too much that are now worth considerably less… well, one can easily see the challenges
involved in engineering a traditionally robust recovery. It’s got a snowball's chance of making it
across the river Styx.
This was the Frankenstorm of recessions, the Sandy of
slowdowns. We can at least agree on
that.
Of all the myths perpetuated this election cycle (and there
are many, even on the blue side), this idea that we should have snapped our
fingers and been out of the woods in a year or two is just the stupidest farce we've witnessed here. And yes, the president set an unrealistic
expectation four years ago. Thinking people knew it was
optimistic. But what is most dispiriting is that at
least 47% of Americans seem to have bought the idea and are genuinely upset
about it. They should look in the
mirror. Even George W. Bush didn't create this mess alone. Let’s stop
blaming Obama for the hole we dug together. And
let’s be smart enough to recognize that we've got a painful climb out of our
collective mess, regardless of who occupies the White House in January.
What this really comes down to is the Congress; if they don’t
mend their fences, enact a Simpson-Bowles-esque solution, and get control of
healthcare entitlements, all of the campaign trail rhetoric in the world won’t pull
us out of the downward spiral. Don’t
count on a GOP-led congress to make the tough choices: as the numbers show, red
states are net beneficiaries of the federal dollars they lambaste. It’s the blue states, in grim irony, that fund
the red ones, and are net contributors to the budget. How exasperating that they are under withering fire
from the very populace they feed. Do we honestly
believe congressional representatives will willingly cut funding from their own
states? And as I've written before, I’m
less concerned about a Romney presidency than with the right-wing congressional
fringe and corporate profit centers to whom they’ll be inextricably
beholden. I fear we won’t get Governor
Romney, but President Koch.
Our voting this time around is regrettably for who will do
the least damage, and to give congress a chance to come up with
some compromise solution. There is a
part of me that actually suspects that if Romney wins, these GOP tea-soaked obstructionists
will suddenly find it in their hearts to cross the aisle and back off of some of
their brinkmanship, as they have so many times stated that the party’s number
one goal is to defeat Obama. If they are
to be believed, then perhaps we have some hope should Tuesday break that
direction. But we should all recognize
however that this is like paying the ransom, and trusting your hostage will be
delivered alive and unharmed. It’s sympathy for
our captors. Our national embrace of the very congressional elements complicit in our current economic quicksand is a massive and bizarre case of
Stockholm syndrome.
Happy voting tomorrow.
