Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion
Juan Cole is President of the Global Americana Institute
President-Elect Obama addresses the nation on the economic crisis
The thing that worries me most is that Bush is still making policy. It should be remembered that the banks failed and produced a ruinous run on them very late in Hoover's term, leaving FDR to announce the bank holiday as soon as he got in. The depths of the incompetence of the current incumbent may not have been plumbed yet.
posted by Juan Cole @ 11/15/2008 01:01:00 PM
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Awards
Winner, October 5, 2007, Scott Nearing Award for Courageous Scholarship (Awarded by the Graduate Students of the Political Science Department, University of Pennsylvania).
Winner, 2005 James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism, Hunter College.
Winner, 2004 Koufax Award for Best Expert Blog
Winner, 2004 Koufax Award for Best Posting
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the War on Terror
8 Comments:
Having Bush still in charge is very scary indeed. I watched him on TV with horror as he lectured the entire world on the economy, having just screwed it up for billions of people.
Can't you keep him occupied with some Bible stuff for the next couple of months? Forge a letter in Hebro from Ariel Sharon, he always obeyed him. Let Bush preach the Bible, at least he knows a bit about that. How about organizing a national day of prayer, every day?
Or tell him his ranch needs him. Would that work? Or have Bush Snr. call him. Anything ...please.
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Richard,
where do you get off nakedly asserting:
"Let Bush preach the Bible, at least he knows a bit about that."
He knows nothing of the teachings of Jesus Christ.
He does not fear God.
You slur Christians when you imply, as he does, that he is one of us.
.
Never mind that Richard is "slurring" Christians. To look at Bush's life and imagine that he knows or believes anything about the Bible is preposterous. What of "Pride before stumbling, and a haughty spirit before a fall?" Is that an obscure text? What about "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor," or "Seek peace and pursue it," or "all liars will have their part in the lake of fire?"
Look, I don't want to weary anyone with a cloud of Bible texts. But Richard, or anyone else, can scarcely open the Bible without coming upon important instructions that Bush just blows off. If a "plumber" or a "carpenter" showed such folly and ignorance in his field, who would license him?
Is it..."the depths of incompetence that (the Bush Administration) has not been plumbed yet" or is it malice aforethought by Bush? Over 2T$s has been spent yet nearly nothing to address the main problem which are the borrowers. Are they, the Bushies, laying the groundwork for a greater economic failure later on during the Obama presidency? One that can plausibly be lain at the foot steps of Obama?
Stick to your area of expertise Juan. If you understood economics, you would know that FDR's New Deal did nothing to help mitigate the effects of the Great Depression.
I recommend this: http://www.amazon.com/FDRs-Folly-Roosevelt-Prolonged-Depression/dp/140005477X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226843308&sr=8-1
I like your writings on foreign policy, however your economic analysis shows a deep lack of understanding in general.
trying to stay on foreign policy...
Obama made a pledge for not having any lobbyist work on his transition team (hopefully in his administration). The question (or what worries me) is if he can keep the pledge on foreign policy? Could he get a policy team that is not influence by the Israeli lobbyist?
Bush is still making policy. Everything that happens, and at first it will all be bad, is still his responsibility.
Economics Freak--You are absolutely incorrect. FDR's policies certainly did "help mitigate the effects of the Great Depression;" they just fell short of solving/curing the very deep and misunderstood causes of the Depression--several of which are still hotly debated.
The current economic crisis will not be solved as it rests on two related problems: resource depletion and overpopulation. Note how aside from energy questions, neither is ever mentioned. The infinite-growth debt-based-consumeristic economic paradigm is on its last legs on our finite planet. Loans are let on the premise that expanding economic activity will provide the income needed by the debtor to repay the loan; they are also the main factor behind the "natural" inflation present in a debt-based economy. The Depression saw the collapse in this method of natural inflation and thus the economy shrank. Only the massive (for the times) deficit spending for prosecuting WW2 rekindled natural inflation, and post-WW2 policies meant that to continue, which is why we are where we are today. In 50 years, what we find commonplace in today's economy will be gone, primarilly because of the changing energy paradigm due to fossil fuel depletion. And when the great glacial Asian "inland sea" melts causing the great rivers to dry and the billions dependent upon them to migrate, there will be dislocation on a scale much larger than the Germanic migrations that undid the Roman Empire.
The outcomes from resource depletion and global warming cannot be undone in the short-term: The fossil-fuel-based agricultural system will fail and glacial fed rivers everywhere will run dry--humans cannot change these outcomes. Our current economic crisis will pale in significance to these two problems and their associates. Given that Obama's policy options are either continue business as usual or continue business as usual with a tweak or two, the radical change that must occur if we--humanity--are to have a fighting chance to mitigate the coming crises will never even be considered where it might do some good. The elite simply don't care--they think they have enough riches to ride out any future storm--so they won't do anything aside form saving the stock market and related financial system (note the considerable opposition to helping the automakers or homeowners), neither of which will survive the century. And most economists will recommend we continue to build our stone heads, only we must now make them 50% bigger and all will be well.
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