Site Presented By
Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Lovely explanation, Andrew. One point to add:
But let's suppose you are not underwater on your mortgage, you don't have any credit card debt, you're gainfully employed, and you are staring at a $499 price tag for a 32-inch flat screen HDTV from Sony?
The thing is, the people who are not underwater on their mortgage, don't have any credit card debt, and are gainfully employed -- I write as someone who meets criteria #1 and #2 and, sorta, #3 (self-employed) -- are very often people who got that way because they don't spend their time staring at $499 price tags for things they don't need. I'm not saying financially prudent people are angels; just that prudence begats prudence.
As you say, today the prudent will not make stupid purchases and the profligate no longer have the cash to make stupid purchases (and can't get credit). The trick is to figure out how to grow the economy again without anyone having to go back to being stupid. Which will require a different system from the one we have had.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
219 Democrats and one Republican join in favor of the legislation, which passed by a narrow margin
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Salon headlines in your mailbox
