Letters to the Editor
Jeffrey P. Harrison
Published Letters: 387 Editor's Choice: 40
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And this is what will ultimately happen
[Read the article: The Tom Friedman of 2002 has not gone anywhere]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]One of the things that I kept on saying in letters to my congressmen back in 2002/2003 in an effort to persuade them not to fling us headlong into war was, "The United States is the most powerful nation in the world, but it is not more powerful than the rest of the world". The world today reminds me of medieval Italy when that country was a crazy quilt of city states. One city state would do something to piss off its neighbors and they would all gang up on the offending city and kick its ass. One of the city states would become ascendant in the process and then, in a fit of hubris, would themselves do something stupid. A new coalition would form and they would then kick the second city's ass. And then, ... this is an infinite loop.
Complete is the first cycle. A bunch of nations got together and kicked the evil empire's ass. One country became ascendant in the process, the US, and, feeling our oats, we've been going around slamming little countries who don't have a chance in hell of fighting back against the wall. Sooner or later we're going to slam the wrong country against the wall. It won't be the wrong country because we couldn't defeat them. It will be the wrong country because they will have powerful friends who can join together to bring us down.
And in this day and age, that take down doesn't even have to be military. China warns that it may start demanding payment in euros if the dollar remains in free fall. That, especially if done in concert with a refusal to buy American debt, would wreak havoc on the US economy. The second shoe would be if the world's oil bourses were to start pricing oil in euros in lieu of dollars. The world could destroy the American economy without firing a single shot or making a single counterfeit $20 . And, since we've been being mean, nasty, and ugly toward the very countries upon whom we depend, it would come as no surprise to me.
While I'm at it, next time you're talking to your beltway buddies : ), you might want to point out to them that all the saber rattling about surgical strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities and stealing Pakistan's bombs all depend very heavily on one thing - success. A failure would mean dead and/or captured American troops as demonstrable proof of our unprovoked act of war. Unlike Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Panama, and Grenada, these countries have the ability to bite back at the US. Should they choose to do so, the dynamic would change dramatically. Legally speaking, they'd have every right.
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I don't understand how Giuliani can run on 9/11
[Read the article: News flash: Giuliani running on 9/11]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Standing around shouting into a bullhorn does not qualify as leadership (and would probably have been better left to the professionals who actually know what they're doing). As CWIC (chief weenie in charge), his role was to make sure that the city was in a position to respond to a disaster (natural or man made). So what actually happened in this disaster?
How did the "command center" do? Were they able to communicate with the police and fire groups that were responding to the disaster so that they could limit damage and loss of life? Were they able to open communications with State and Federal agencies to request assistance when New York's resources proved inadequate to the scope of the disaster? Well, no. There was no command center because Mr. Giuliani decided to put the command center, not in a secure location, but in a location that had already been attacked once already - the world trade center which itself was the target again.
How robust was the planning for disaster response? Did it include provisions addressing the (likely) event that some portion of the disaster response couldn't execute their part of the plan? Well, no. The executive hadn't even ensured that the police and fire departments could even talk to each other among other things.
So, overall how would I describe NYs response to this disaster? Disjointed and ineffective. What meager successes occurred to limit damage and save lives came as a result of the personal heroics of individual firemen, policemen, and the citizenry of the City of New York operating on their own initiative and in isolation.
You call that leadership? 'Cause I don't.
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I don't unnerstand...
[Read the article: The bright side of consumer paralysis]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I was powerfully influenced in high school by whatever Dicken's novel it was (Great Expectations, I think) where he has a character say, 9 pence income, 7 pence outgo, heaven. 7 pence income, 9 pence outgo, hell. I have always found that a fairly simple concept even if it is occasionally difficult to execute assuming you're trying to execute it.
Personally, I hope credit cards dry up. Then maybe I won't get any more #%@!! credit card offers that:
(a) I neither wanted nor asked for. And
(b) I have to shred because if somebody else gets their hands on the credit card offer I neither wanted nor asked for, the CC company will send me the bill.
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you're being overly optimistic
[Read the article: From China to the housing bust: Connecting the dollar dots]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The truly obscene trade deficits may become a thing of the past but the US has had a trade deficit every month for decades. Any trade deficit means the dollars are being spent in excess of the yuan, euros, rials etc we being paid in. Any trade deficit has to be paid for with more debt from the treasury. The only way to reverse the trend we will have to start running trade surpluses and I don't see that happening anytime soon in the current legal and regulatory environment.