"Pity the poor American car when Congress and the White House get through with it — a lightweight vehicle with a small carbon footprint, using alternative energy and renewable resources to operate in a sustainable way. When I was a kid we called it a Schwinn."See also this about government financial acuity. Post bumped.
Monday, June 22, 2009
A ride worth taking ...
... A lifetime love affair with cars. (Hat tip, Paul Davis.)
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Ah, yes. No one wants the gummint to mess with industry, esp. cars. But once upon a time, my children, during a previous war (we ARE at war now, we keep being told -- two of 'em, in fact), the gummint shut down the entire private automobile industry for the common good -- for years. But that's way in the past, and the past is another country, where they do things differently, such as tax themselves to pay for wars, even ones they didn't start.
ReplyDeleteDo they also tax themselves for health care, Roger? And for bailing out financiers?
ReplyDeleteOh, and check out this graph.
ReplyDelete"Do they also tax themselves for health care, Roger? And for bailing out financiers?"
ReplyDeleteIn health care, THEY might have, most probably would, as it is the financially prudent thing to do. THEY probably would not have bailed out financiers, who caused the problems, but rather the people at the bottom who were most affected by the problems. That is/was the best and fastest way to get money back into the economy and creating more money.
In fact, though, visiting that past where they do things differently, they mostly didn't bail out anybody. I grew up in a household where people blessed themselves whenever FDR was mentioned. The New Deal may not have been the great economic miracle legend would have it, but Roosevelt did restore confidence and was beloved among the people of my low class. Before the New Deal, though, government tended to let recessions simply run their course (it was Hoover, by the way, who called the economic dislocation that began in 1929 a "depression." It was meant as a euphemism). I used to be a medical editor. Most people who bloviate about health care don't begin to know what they're talking about.
ReplyDeleteIn 1913 the FED was created and 16 years later the bankers had robbed us blind. The Glass Steagall act was passed in 1933 (a real NEW deal) to insure that they couldn't ever do it again. But in 2001 Glass Steagall was repealed and the bankers then robbed us blind again.
ReplyDeleteSeems like positive proof that SOME government intervention is necessary when it comes to money and bankers, right?
-blue
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I've been told that Wilson considered creating the FED the biggest mistake his Presidency ever made. Talk about a ride not worth taking.
But wait, Blue, in all these cases you have government involvement of one sort or another. And Glass-Steagall wasn't repealed in 2001, however much you would like to blame it on Bush and the Republicans. It was repealed in 1999, and President Clinton - who had urged it - hailed the repeal as a giant step in bringing US banking practices into alignment with European practices. And everybody applauded.
ReplyDeletejust yesterday I was passing again through Bowling Green, KY, and for the first time stopped and toured the national Corvette Museum. It was quite a bit of fun. I'm not that into cars, but I am into great design. And the Corvette Stingray is one of the most beautiful designs for a car ever made.
ReplyDeleteSorry, that's what came to mind just now. Corvette of course is a Chevrolet branch, their sports car and racing car branch. Always wonderfully designed cars, in small production lots. A lot of history's involved, including "Route 66."