When I was a kid, what we now call flip-flops were called thongs. When I use the word “thong” about footwear, today, I get funny looks from the kids.
Whether it’s today’s thong, or yesteryear’s, both are skimpy. When you walk, the footwear goes “flip flop, flip flop”; what happens to the underwear, well …
Modern Democratic Party economic policy is like the underwear — it quickly creeps into uncomfortable places. Republican economic policy resembles the Democrats’, but also the footwear. Take John McCain’s economic policy: “flip flop, flip flop.”
Recently, McCain pompously took credit for “putting” and “keeping [Americans] in their homes.” Give me a break! He’s not paying the mortgage. I liked it better when, after the housing bubble began to burst, McCain said we should be wary of subsidizing bad business decisions with a massive bailout.
But not long after saying that he then specified a whole bunch of bailout measures. Flip. Hillary Clinton chortled that at last he was getting it, but he wasn’t going far enough.
His basic problem, though, goes back to his philosophy. He said that he’s “committed to using all the resources of this government and great nation to create opportunity and make sure that every deserving American has a good job and can achieve their American dream.”
Flop. To ensure his goal, he should not use all the resources of government!
Sometimes less is more. Like … sandals.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
1 reply on “Bootless Economic Policy”
Although I’m not a huge fan of the mortgage bail-out, I do recognize that the collapse of the mortgage industry would be seriously bad for the economy and for the capital markets. I would be happier if the bail-out only extended to principal residences of a lower- or middle-class income level, and not at all to rental properties. In the final analysis, one would be hard-pressed to conclude that the entire problem wasn’t created by our favorite federal government, by pushing the concept of giving loans to people who barely (or didn’t, under reasonable consideration) qualified for said mortgage loan. So, in one sense at least, the government is taking the responsibility for the problem it helped create. Unfortunately, it comes at the price of taxing the general population.
my 2¢,
— Ken Kelley
(Houston, Texas)