There is a popular Chinese saying – “Taiwanese are old fashioned, Hongkonese are heartless and Americans are stupid.” So warns Yue Xi, an adviser to Americans hoping to do business in China.
What does it mean for the human experiment when citizens of the nation, or more accurately the empire, with the largest military, the biggest economy and the most pervasive cultural influence in history are generally considered a bunch of dim-witted numskulls? There are only two conclusions: either the empire is about to go bust or we're doomed... at least to a virtual comic-book universe:
It's not that we lack for geniuses... after all we did give the world I-pods, velcro and Miles Davis as well as Michael Jackson. I suspect the 'stupidity' the Chinese and others perceive is our great American Complacency. Our recent record in international basketball is a perfect example. We still have the talent but until the '08 Olympics our "Dream Teams" lacked heart, discipline ... and smarts.
We have the finest universities with the fattest endowments but our public school teachers are over-stressed and underpaid, our poorest schools are overcrowded and woefully decrepit. So is it surprise that half our high school graduates appear functionally illiterate? But hear us cheer, USA! USA! 'Cause remember, we're the greatest!
Then there are our great financial wizards-- like the head of Hewlett Packard who got sacked for falsifying records to hide an affair with a B movie actress. A steamy secret affair that apparently never got consummated. Talk about a poor investment choice. And you would think after the Enron bloodbath that the head of the Federal Reserve would not want to see that debacle repeated. No such Luck:
Fed Chairman, Ben Bernanke wants to let banks ignore existing guidelines requiring them to value assets at what they would be worth if sold on the market today. Instead of having to admit these toxic assets are currently worth 5 to 10 % of original value. Why worry? the chairman is thinking, sure, our economy may be on life support, we're still the mighty USA.
Well, the Chinese seem to think Bernanke is dumb enough to think they're the ones who are stupid. Beijing has been busy dumping dollars and buying euros. But while it reflects a lack of faith for a U.S. recovery in the long run, by boosting the euro right after bailing out Greece while the "smart" money ran for cover, the erstwhile communists may end up saving a lot of complacent capitalists.
I won't even talk about our brilliant politicians... they can speak for themselves...
Showing posts with label Europe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Europe. Show all posts
Monday, August 16, 2010
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Barack Obama: Presumer-in-Chief?
After a victorious jaunt from Kabul to Downing Street Barack Obama has discovered that laurels won abroad shrink to a thorny crown on American soil. To prove the trip they had all begged to join was no more than a meaningless fling, our celebrities in the press now assure us that no matter the strength of his vision nor the breadth of his charm, the young senator had, in fact, accomplished nothing. Nothing, that is, beyond convincing the rest of the world that, but for the voting, he's already the president.
Ah, the recklessness of youth wasting its time courting Old Europe.
It appears the dashing senator, after managing to nimbly avoid every political IED in his path, has been undone by the ultimate misstep: he outran his own success. And just so we appreciate its deeper implications, here are the garlands our infatuated newsmen were kind enough to wrap around Obama's neck as they greeted him by the finishing line:
Washington Post: "Whether by the end of this week he will be seen as presumptuous or overly cocky..."
TIME Magazine: "capable to become the Commander in Chief of a superpower -- without seeming presumptuous..."
AP: ".. a speech that risked being seen as presumptuous..."
The National Journal: "He is well aware voters here at home might see that as presumptuous..."
Chicago Tribune: "That means walking the fine line between looking presidential and appearing arrogant and presumptuous..."
Boston Globe: "plus the growing sense in some quarters that the presumptive Democratic nominee is getting a little presumptuous..."
One can be forgiven for suspecting that these great bards think remarkably alike... one should never imagine they might all be working off of Karl Rove's talking points ... no, that would be far too presumptuous... and we know our corporate-owned media has a liberal bias...right...? Wrong!
Instead, we are to overlook the fact that Obama's opponent offers such presumption by the day, if not the hour. John McCain brays that he is "ready-from-before-day-one" and has the gonads to coyly assume it. We must forget that his presumptuous goofs-- like his dewy-eyed support for Bush's ill-conceived war typify his misjudgments. Disregard the chills running down the spines of a few million of us as we picture "bomb, bomb" McCain in command of a nuclear arsenal. Such fears are folly our fawning pundits insist. Never mind that their septuagenarian hero's one great accomplishment came forty years ago as a prisoner-of-war under doubtful circumstances. And even if every word of McCain's autobiography is true, is it unseemly to ask whether such an ordeal might be responsible for his frequent mental lapses and mercurial temper?
Such questions, judging from the near silence on the subject, I can only presume are out of bounds- unlike the coarse whispers of a jealous surrogate which become instant front page news subject to weeks of biting analysis and great tomes of indignation. And while the sins of Reverend Wright were wholly rhetorical, our supposed watch-dog press does not apparently care a whit that the man we may elect as president admits to having had a quick-rage-trigger and views military force as an act of diplomacy.
With that in mind, is it impolitic to think there were a few old Germans among Berlin's 200,000 thrall hoping that before America's next president goes hunting another war someone in our universally "liberal" news media summons the nerve to ask a few hard questions? Or would that be presumptuous?
Ah, the recklessness of youth wasting its time courting Old Europe.
It appears the dashing senator, after managing to nimbly avoid every political IED in his path, has been undone by the ultimate misstep: he outran his own success. And just so we appreciate its deeper implications, here are the garlands our infatuated newsmen were kind enough to wrap around Obama's neck as they greeted him by the finishing line:
Washington Post: "Whether by the end of this week he will be seen as presumptuous or overly cocky..."
TIME Magazine: "capable to become the Commander in Chief of a superpower -- without seeming presumptuous..."
AP: ".. a speech that risked being seen as presumptuous..."
The National Journal: "He is well aware voters here at home might see that as presumptuous..."
Chicago Tribune: "That means walking the fine line between looking presidential and appearing arrogant and presumptuous..."
Boston Globe: "plus the growing sense in some quarters that the presumptive Democratic nominee is getting a little presumptuous..."
One can be forgiven for suspecting that these great bards think remarkably alike... one should never imagine they might all be working off of Karl Rove's talking points ... no, that would be far too presumptuous... and we know our corporate-owned media has a liberal bias...right...? Wrong!
Instead, we are to overlook the fact that Obama's opponent offers such presumption by the day, if not the hour. John McCain brays that he is "ready-from-before-day-one" and has the gonads to coyly assume it. We must forget that his presumptuous goofs-- like his dewy-eyed support for Bush's ill-conceived war typify his misjudgments. Disregard the chills running down the spines of a few million of us as we picture "bomb, bomb" McCain in command of a nuclear arsenal. Such fears are folly our fawning pundits insist. Never mind that their septuagenarian hero's one great accomplishment came forty years ago as a prisoner-of-war under doubtful circumstances. And even if every word of McCain's autobiography is true, is it unseemly to ask whether such an ordeal might be responsible for his frequent mental lapses and mercurial temper?
Such questions, judging from the near silence on the subject, I can only presume are out of bounds- unlike the coarse whispers of a jealous surrogate which become instant front page news subject to weeks of biting analysis and great tomes of indignation. And while the sins of Reverend Wright were wholly rhetorical, our supposed watch-dog press does not apparently care a whit that the man we may elect as president admits to having had a quick-rage-trigger and views military force as an act of diplomacy.
With that in mind, is it impolitic to think there were a few old Germans among Berlin's 200,000 thrall hoping that before America's next president goes hunting another war someone in our universally "liberal" news media summons the nerve to ask a few hard questions? Or would that be presumptuous?
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