A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood… Until…
What a day Wednesday was. Temperatures in the seventies, sunny skies, and crowds of people on the streets of Center City Philadelphia. And then….
It was at the corner of Broad and Chestnut. It happened. It happens all the time, and one day, there will be tragic results.
People are crossing Broad Street headed West. The traffic light has the clear “walk sign.” A cab, trying to turn right on to Broad Street from Chesnut, roars around the corner, and screeches to a stop before a shocked crowd of pedestrians. The driver is obviously in a hurry. I make a gesture, as in “stop” , with my right hand, but the cab keeps moving. The taxi narrowly misses people trying to make it across. The margin between a close call and tragedy on the streets is mere inches.
Look familiar?
Taxicabs are a problem in Philadelphia. A few are clean. Many are filthy, and filled with the air of smoke and dirt. Seat belts are often dislodged. So you can forget safety. The drivers, some of them, make New York cabbies look childlike. Many cab drivers ignore traffic lights. I occasionally take a cab, although I prefer rail lines and city buses. Riding in a Philadelphia cab can be dangerous. Walking in Center City near a taxicab could be fatal.
Yet, there is little or no enforcement by the city. If there was, our cabs would be clean, and our visitors would we well taken care of. Instead, the taxicabs of the city often reflect a derogatory image of a great city.
Cab safety and the well being of pedestrians should be a priority of the City of Philadelphia. If a seat belt is missing or broken in a taxicab, the driver should be grounded - the car taken off the street.
A final note, there are drivers who run clean and efficient operations. I only wish them well. But right now a lack of enforcement and a gross lack of proper and safe driving is giving out town a bad rep, or should I say, a bad rap.
QUESTIONS ON THE FINANCIAL CRISIS:
Where was government oversight all of these years?
When will the high paid bozos who destroyed their companies be held accountable for highly questionable and greedy investments?
Will the government BAILOUT the stockholders who lost millions?
Will the government bail YOU out of you miss a couple of payments and find the Sheriff trying to evict you?
Where is the President?
Where is the Vice President?
Why is the Treasury Secretary a product of the failed system?
Who will pay in the end?
Does Merrill Lynch still have a “bull” as its icon?
Having traveled extensively for business to major cities in the US, I agree wholeheartedly that most of the cabs are a disgrace, and many cab drivers less than cautious.
Happily I found PHL taxi a few years ago. I had to be at the airport at 5:30A, and none of the other cab companies would send a cab out that earlier. I didn’t relish the idea of sleeping at the airport to make my flight!
Larry, thank you for changing blog topic but with everything going on - taxi cabs? You have to be kidding. We can’t discuss taxi cabs for 5 days regardless how disgusting they may be.
As for the current bank situation, why do you first blame government for not regulating then not doing anything? Caveat emptor. If you really want a bigger government and more government control, vote for Obama.
Mr Larry you complain about taxi cab and septa you like rickshaw right i keep rickshaw clean right no smoking in rickshaw and rickshaw safe right Mr Larry.
My family keep money at home in safe no trust wall street no trust bozos no trust bank.
Thinks I, the taxi cabs be the least of your worries, ye scurvy landlubber. Tomorrow be International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Batten down the hatches, Sir Larry. The sea dogs be coming aboard.
http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html
Finally a topic I can get my hook into!
Words and Music Copyright 2003-2006 by Tom Smith
Dedicated ta Cap’n Slappy an’ Ol’ Chumbucket, fer creatin’ National Talk Like A Pirate Day (September 19th)
Most days are like all of the others,
Go to work, come back home, watch TV,
But, brother, if I had me druthers,
I’d chuck it and head out to sea,
For I dream of the skull and the crossbones,
I dream of the great day to come,
When I dump the mundane for the Old Spanish Main
And trade my computer for rum! ARRR!
T’ me,
Yo, Ho, Yo, Ho,
It’s “Talk Like A Pirate” Day!
When laptops are benches God gave us for wenches,
And a sail ain’t a low price to pay!
When timbers are shivered and lillies are livered
And every last buckle is swashed,
We’ll abandon our cars for a shipfull of ARRRs
And pound back the grog till we’re sloshed. Yo ho ….
- Anyone see my keys?
- Just off the coast o’ Florida, matey! ARRR!
Don’t pick up yer phone and say “Hello,
Your ten-o-clock meeting’s delayed”,
Ye scrunch up yer face and ye bellow,
“AVAST! Ye’ve been bleedin’ BELAYED!”
Ye can’t keep this fun to yourself, I bet,
So sing “Aye”, “ARRR”, and “Ayy”, every man!
We ain’t got much grasp of the alphabet,
But a damn good retirement plan! (raucous laughter)
T’ me,
Yo, Ho, Yo, Ho,
It’s “Talk Like A Pirate” Day!
Whatever’s in fashion is in for a thrashin’
And bein’ polite is passe!
When it’s ev’ry man’s duty to grab his proud beauty
And let out a hearty YO HO!
And if this offends you, hold your breath as we sends
you
Ta Davy Jones’ Locker ya go!
- Where IS Davy Jones’ Locker, anyway?
- Right near Monkee Island! Arr, aye, arr….
We’ll tell every banker “Heave to and weigh anchor!”
Buy latte with pieces of eight
We’ll fight to be chosen as cap’n or bosun
The loser, o’ course, is worst mate!
When we hoist Jolly Roger the landlubbers dodge ‘er,
We fill ‘em with loathing and fear,
We’ll plunder and pillage each city and village,
Or at least clean out Wal-Mart of beer!
- Ahoy, mateys! And Welcome ta “Iron Chef Pirate!”
Let’s see the secret ingredient!
<GONNNG It’s Barnacles!
- Oh ho! There’ll be some cutting-edge cuisine!
- “AWK! AWK!” <bzzzzzz
- Hold still, Polly! I need this for me salad!
- Avast there, me bucko! Ye need CARROT shavings! CARROT!
- But Captain, I be on Atkins!
- Moron…
- And you! WHAT are ye doin’ with that salmon?
- I’m grillin’ it on a hunk o’ cedar, what d’y'think?
- Ye CAN’T do that in a JAPANESE STIR-FRY, ye bilge rat!
- Oh HO! Ye never heard o’ “wokkin’ the plank”?
There ain’t no computin’ or morning commutin’,
No “Parking Lot Full” signs for me,
No lawns ta be mowin’ or bills to be owin’,
I’m knowin’ the pull of the sea.
The fresh salty brace of the wind on my face
Through hurricane, sunshine or squalls,
I’m keepin’ my eyes on the distant horizon,
Verizon can hold all my calls!
To wear a red coat full o’ buckles,
To earn a few duelling scars,
Well, at least we can get a few chuckles
By filling the office with ARRRs!
And maybe we’ll never get closer,
Than watchin’ ‘em on the big screen,
So here’s to old Errol and Depp as Jack Sparrow,
And every damn one in between!
T’ me,
Yo, Ho, Yo, Ho,
It’s “Talk Like A Pirate” Day!
That time in September when sea dogs remember
That grown-ups still know how ta play!
When wenches are curvy and dogs are all scurvy
And a soft-wear patch covers your eye,
Ta hell with our jobs, for one day we’re all swabs
And buccaneers all till we die!
So hoist up the mainsails and shut down your brain cells,
They only would get in the way,
Avast there, me hearty, we’re havin’ a party,
It’s “Talk Like A Pirate” Day!
Yo Ho!
Greetings from the sixth arrondissement.I am pleased to announce that the Captain has been named to the new post of Arrondissement Organizer.Soon,I will say that I am running for the Presidency,that Sarkozy is toast.French toast that is.I will throw him under the trolley , as you Americans say.Maybe in Philadelphia,I can throw him under the taxi cab.
Thank you very much!
In America, a man can become another OJ Simpson.
Well, Larry, I can see I’m too late. The pirates are here and they’re singing sea shanties.
As for taxi cabs, they are what they are. Those poor schlubs aren’t exactly rolling in dough. Many of them rent their cabs from other people and pay a lot of money for the privilege of schlepping people around in the terrible traffic in this city. The cabs get dirty because people in Philadelphia tend to be dirty. I’ve lived several places, and Philadelphia is by far the filthiest of them. So ease, up, Larry. These guys don’t deserve the aspersions you’re casting. You should be trying to get them FREE AIR for their balding tires. It’s also borderline racist of you, I think, to impugn only taxi drivers for poor driving skills. I know many of them are Arabic and therefore possibly ANTI-SEMITIC like Jimmy Carter, but that’s no reason to decry their driving and not the driving of other bad drivers in Philadelphia. When I’m crossing the street at Broad and Chestnut or Chestnut and 15th, it’s usually bozos in SUVs or BMW/Mercedes/Lexus cars trying to run red lights while yakking on their Blackberries and cellphones who nearly take my life. Complain about them, too, Larry. They are bad ambassadors for our city as well. Stop beating down the little guy and return to your prominent role as the people’s poet!
Cleanliness is next to Godliness. I don’t think God is riding around in a taxi.
Taxis & Pirates,I came back for this ?
I wonder about things, like, if they call an orange an “orange,” then why don’t we call a banana a “yellow” or an apple a “red”? Blueberries, I understand. But will someone explain gooseberries to me?
Rev., as Carlin once asked, if there’s an animal called a “fly,” why isn’t there one called a “walk”?
The question remains: why does Larry dislike the poor schlubs who drive taxis, who are simply trying to provide for their families but not go after the people in Land Rovers who seem to pose just as great a threat to pedestrians and other drivers?
Finally some one made it over to the other side. Captain Hook you are a man after my own heart (whatever that means).
I always thought JR would be the first to make it to the other side (where ever that is) but you my man have done it. Completely relinquished the ties that bound you to mere mortal existence. You may now soar with the birds of the air and swim with the fish of the sea. Your reverent soliloquy has brought rapture and music to my soul. May St Elmo and Neptune look upon you with grace and benevolence.
It’s easy to grin / when your ship has come in / and you’ve got the stock market beat / but the man worthwhile / is the man who can smile / when his shorts are too tight in the seat
Ahoy Ed. Methanks you for your kind words. Not so sure I want to swim with the fish if you get my drift. Thar might be a long walk off a short plank involved. Also, methinks TFP actually should receive the credit. Argggh
Larry you are absolutely spot on on the taxi situation.its a national disgrace.or is that an international disgrace?
****
banks are going under faster than barry.hard to believe national institutions need government oversite. where is the outrage?
****
love the pirate ditty!
Won’t you be my neighbor Larry?
It’s no sea shanty, but I hope our friends from the neighborhood of makebelieve pirates will enjoy this old chestnut.
It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood,
A beautiful day for a neighbor.
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?…
It’s a neighborly day in this beauty wood,
A neighborly day for a beauty.
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?…
I’ve always wanted to have a neighbor just like you.
I’ve always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.
So, let’s make the most of this beautiful day.
Since we’re together we might as well say:
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
Won’t you be my neighbor?
Won’t you please,
Won’t you please?
Please won’t you be my neighbor?
Thank you Mr Rogers. Make sure you say hi to King Friday and tell him tomorrow is talk like a pirate day.
YFAP, welcome back. Awefully quiet today.Back from a bombing mission over Hanoi?
Mr Rogers, why has everyone on wall street lost their moral compass? Most watched your show as children and are now running the show, but despite your best efforts to instill values and ethics it didn’t work. Where’s Mr McFeeely these days? Come to think of it, you never had any children on the show, just creepy adults and hand puppets. Oh my God, Mr Rogers’ show has morphed into Larry Kane’s blog!
Here’s what the predisdent is doing:
George W. Bush said his
administration will take any actions necessary to stabilize
markets in the face of a crisis that is shaking confidence in
the nation’s financial system.
“The American people can be sure we will continue to act
to strengthen and stabilize our financial markets and improve
investor confidence,” the president said in a brief address
from the White House.
Bush made no new policy announcements and stressed that
he’s conferring with top economic advisers on a regular basis to
confront the economic disruptions and panic that’s swept through
global markets. He took no questions.
U.S. markets opened higher in morning trading in New York
following gains in Europe after the world’s largest central
banks said they’d pump $247 billion into the global financial
system to ease a credit crisis and stem a worldwide contagion.
The president cited those steps, along with the takeover of
American International Group Inc. by the U.S. this week, the
rescue of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and steps
taken yesterday by the Securities and Exchange Commission to
strengthen investor protections.
“These actions are necessary and they’re important, and
the markets are adjusting to them,” the president, who canceled
plans to travel outside Washington today, said.
More Meetings
It was Bush’s first public comment on the financial turmoil
since a 160-word statement on Sept. 15. The president planned to
meet with economic advisers later today, spokeswoman Dana Perino
said, including Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama issued a
statement endorsing the Fed’s coordinated action to add
liquidity to the world’s financial machinery.
“The current financial market turmoil is a major threat to
our economy,” Obama said in an e-mailed statement, before
Bush’s remarks.
“I recognize the need for today’s action by the Federal
Reserve and their need to act quickly in a globally coordinated
fashion to maintain the functioning of our financial system and
the flow of credit to American households and businesses,” the
Illinois senator said.
Captain Hook is it true that most pirates don’t even know how to swim? I guess it’s the same thing with investment bankers and money. Who would have thought that people whose job it was to sail a course through a sea of green would end up drowning in a sea of RED….
Larry,I have not used a cab or septa for many years if I need to go somewhere it’s my schwinn or my lexus (leo was that you at broad and chestnut you have to push that shopping cart faster).
***
Fred Rogers was one the best of all time.
***
Captain Hook that was just what we needed.
***
Jack Sparrow you are spot on my friend.
Nah,nothing that exciting.Took a trip to New Mexico,an itch that needed to be scratched.Oh well,win some,lose some.
JR with the zinger.You’re up Leo.
President Bush, I note that you did not discuss John McCain. Do you agree that, as a man who owns seven homes worth millions of dollars, McCain is in a good position to take on “excess and greed” in the economy?
jr, you know as well as I do that the only time I’ve pushed a shopping cart was to wheel your mother home from a hard night’s work on the corner of 52nd and Market.
Leo, you wouldn’t last 5 minutes at 52nd and Market.
Seems like my empty rhetoric got the market slide reversed for today, now for a bike ride and then a nap before dinner. I’m leader of the free world, and don’t give a damn what any of you think of me. I’m a two term president who changed the course of American history. Put that in your pipes and smoke it blog boys!
YFAP, welcome to filibuster day on “Larry’s” Blog. 3 of the longest blogs posted in recent history. None with any relevance to the topics at hand. You gotta love this site.
BTW, GWB are you any relation to John Kerry?
I dunno,I’m enjoying the JR-Leo dust up.Witty repartee is always amusing.Step up,JR.
yes. oooJ, as I learned in my psychology class at Yale, I’m John Kerry’s “alter ego” hehheheehe.
If a gun goes off at 52nd & Market, does it make a sound? Folk lore has it that you never hear the one that gets you.
If a man with a hammer freaks out on a SEPTA train do any bystanders intervene or try to help the victim?
If three guys schrouded in a hoodie approach a basketball court without a ball does that mean all hell will break loose?
If i cab driver offers a ride to someone who wants to go to 52nd & Market does that mean his wife will be called by the police the next morning?
Ahoy maties! Methinks Leo with a minivan hybrid is far more likely than with a shopping cart regardless of the booty. JR is that a chip on your shoulder or a parrott matie? Has anyone seen that landlubber Joe Beaten lately? How about the lovely Michelle? Methinks they’ve been absconded, bound and gagged.
Murry-Yes
No
No
Yes
Probably
YFAP, are you trying to offset the filibusters with the cryptic, 6 words blog?
Larry would be so proud… if he was even paying attention.
If you’re against the AIG bailout one day, but for it the next day, will the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth notice?
Leo, who are you trying to kid. YOUR swift boaters are the MSM not disgruntled veterans of war who actually saw action and stayed for the remainder, unlike pretty boy John who saw that his ass was about to be fried, high tailed it back to the states to spread his propaganda. Gee, why wasn’t he elected president?
If you claim to have taken a pay cut as mayor of Wasilla, but you actually earned thousands of dollars more than your predecessor and more than your starting salary as mayor, can you lie with impunity about it?
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/09/did_palin_really_take_a_pay_cu.php
If you’re for firing the chairman of the SEC, why not be for firing the party whose “free market, greed is good” economic philosophy he was advancing?
If you’re Larry Mendte, why do you hack Palin’s Yahoo! e-mail, which she used to conduct official business like any intelligent commander of a state national guard who is sensitive to concerns for governmental security of classified information?
If you’re reformer John McCain, why do you say that you would fire the chair of the SEC if you were president when the president doesn’t have the power to fire the chair of the SEC?
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/09/mccain-blasts-o.html
Leo my mother has past on.
After that evening, I wouldn’t be surprised, jr. It’s not for nothing that I had to use a shopping cart.
Good to see we haven’t lost touch with the topic despite personal attacks, pirates and sock puppets
Arrrrrrrrggggg. Avast ye salty dogs and landlubbers. This be talk like a pirate day. Thinks I this other Jim forgets himself. Grog and rum for all of ye sorry lot! Drink up me hearties!
Larry, seems like the government is not AWOL. It would have been insane for the president to have said much before a comprehensive plan was in place, and the only way to get that crew in congress to do anything was to have a full on meltdown before the election, so now it apppears they have their act together. Who will pay? taxpayers of course, however, taxpayers will also be the beneificiaries, those who don’t pay taxes don’t have signifincat investments at risk, so its probably good the government is doing something. Also, since this was a panic and when things stabilize its possible the govermnent will profit from their actions. Paulson and Bernanake have been doing a wonderful job and hopefully McCain keeps them for his administration.
Leo, why don’t you try to be more clever with your perosnal attacks on JR, mother jokes are very 8th grade, and well below your pay grade Mr Obama lover.
Ahoy W. Methinks Larry be so far in t’ liberal tank that he can’t even see straight. He takes as true t’ lies and half truths o’ that scurvy dog, street thug Obama. Has he no shame? Argggh.
ROFLMAO coming from Dubya. We all know why you don’t like mama jokes. No one whose dad married his grandma would. Arr.
LB, I think it’s a bit insensitive even for you to be making light of JR’s Mom after she’s passed. I think you owe him an apology on that item.
Avast ye maties, lets get the hell out of here. We’ve got to find another country to loot and pillage. The US financial system has already stolen everything before we could launch our attack. I say we go to Cuba. At least there I can pick up a ‘57 Chevy and a good cigar.
There’s always a line & someone always crosses it.
OOOJ, clearly you’re entitled to your opinion. I, however, don’t believe anything jr says. Arr.
Leo is an example of the bitter nasty liberals that we have to deal with in Congress. It took a near financial calamity for them to come to their senses and accept the plan that Secretary Paulson had been woring on with me for months. But the good new is my administration has out-foxed the Democrats once again. I am on record as wanting to reform the GSE’s long ago, they are not. In fact they grew GSE authority and took the most in campaign contributions. Obama is going to have some explaining to do, he’s in Washington just two years, yet he’s #2 on the GSE contribtion payroll! His hands are dirtier than Barney Frank’s rear end.
Ah, Dubya, it’s amusing to see that you’re pretending to be awake. As if “you” weren’t the one appointing stuffed shirts and insiders like Pitt and Cox to “regulate” the markets. Congress doesn’t promulgate regulations — the executive branch does under delegated authority. The failures here are failures of the executive branch, which cried and cried for deregulation after your big contributors brought about Sarbannes-Oxley.
And that would be big contributors at Enron. Remember them? You had a baseball stadium named after them when you were governor. Mighty fine work, Dubya.
I don’t think that either Leo or Jack was being a very good neighbor. Lady Elaine Fairchild sometimes gets grumpy also but everyone in makebelieve still loves her.
Tomorrow should be Int’l talk like an Air Pirtae day.Y’all can work on some exotic & colorful phrases like “Bingo”,or “Judy”,maybe even “Tally Ho”.Advanced Air Pirates can sprout out,”green ‘em up,clean ‘em up & turn on the music”.Masters can scream ” 3,break hard right “.Sure beats Matie,arrgh & shiver me timbers.
That would actually be Int’l talk like an Air Pirate,not Air Pirtae.
I’d like to see a talk like George Bush day. Since we won’t be hearing much from him during the campaign. His distinctive delivery and that Southern/Yale accent will be sorely missed. (mostly by comedians and his mother). I guess it wouldn’t come across too well here. I personally will miss his pronunciation of Islamic evil doers and those east Asian provinces. It was also comforting to hear him call himself a uniter not a divider. and who can forget nuclear That was Ahmadinejad’s favorite but he hated Axis of Evil. Kim Jon Il however liked it. He thought it gave him stature in the world. Borak Ohsambama our next president should have no problem.
One final note. Next year’s Talk Like a Pirate’s Day has been cancled…….
In my country of Russia we sing Volga boat song and read Pravda. Drink vodak also. I see the next article from Pravda and think American friends have interest.
PRAVDA.RU
The candidate for the Vice Presidency of the United States of America, whose experience in small town politics, mothers´ day dos and the local hockey club is her claim to fame, threatened to open the gates of Hell by attacking Russia in the event of another invasion of Georgia in a televised interview on ABC (shown today). One question for this self-opinionated upstart: Do you know what a nuclear holocaust is?
Sarah Palin, Mrs. Nobody know-it-all shreiking cow from Alaska, the joke of American politics, plied with a couple of vodkas before letting rip in front of incredulous audiences while McCain coos in the background, cuts a ridiculous figure as she strives to be taken seriously.
How can anyone whose husband is a member of the Alaska Independence Party and who is running for the Vice Presidency of the Union be taken seriously? How indeed can the Republican Party be taken seriously for not vetting this female, or have they not yet discovered the skeletons in her closet? We have.
So Sarah Palin, Mrs. Hockey Mom housewife-cum-small-town gossip merchant and cheap little guttersnipe, suppose you shut up and allowed real politicians and diplomats to do their work? Threatening Russia with a war is perhaps the most irresponsible thing anyone could do at this moment in time. Have you any idea what a nuclear holocaust is? Have you any notion of the power of Russia’s armed forces? Did you know that Russia has enough missiles to destroy any target anywhere on Earth in seconds?
And have you not forgotten, you pith-headed little bimbo from the back of beyond, that small detail about the slaughter of Russian citizens by Georgians, which started the whole debacle? So next time suppose you keep your mouth shut and while you’re at it, make sure the members of your family keep their legs shut too. Your country has enough failed mothers as it is.
YFAP, catch me up. I’ve been gone all day. Doesn’t look like much has changed.
LARRY, PARTICIPATE IN YOUR BLOG
Larry, Did you buy those two ETFs I recommended mid week during the peak of the sell-off, DIA and SPY (DOW and S&P 500 indices)? You’d be up at least 5% if you listend to Mother Merrill. Instead, you probably fretted like a little girl asking yourself the nine inane questions in the above news flash over and over again. You also got angry waiting on hold to Vanguard nervously trying to get out of the market. Hopefully that’s not the case and you stepped in and put some wood to the market in the form of a seven figure long position. This was the week we seperated the men from the boys on the Street, and as an orginal NYer hopefully you acted like a man and bought the hell out of the market like Mother Merrill told you to!
The Party’s Over
By Patrick J. Buchanan
The Crash of 2008, which is now wiping out trillions of dollars of our people’s wealth, is, like the Crash of 1929, likely to mark the end of one era and the onset of another.
The new era will see a more sober and much diminished America. The “Omnipower” and “Indispensable Nation” we heard about in all the hubris and braggadocio following our Cold War victory is history.
Seizing on the crisis, the left says we are witnessing the failure of market economics, a failure of conservatism.
This is nonsense. What we are witnessing is the collapse of Gordon Gecko (”Greed Is Good!”) capitalism. What we are witnessing is what happens to a prodigal nation that ignores history, and forgets and abandons the philosophy and principles that made it great.
A true conservative cherishes prudence and believes in fiscal responsibility, balanced budgets and a self-reliant republic. He believes in saving for retirement and a rainy day, in deferred gratification, in not buying on credit what you cannot afford, in living within your means.
Is that really what got Wall Street and us into this mess — that we followed too religiously the gospel of Robert Taft and Russell Kirk?
“Government must save us!” cries the left, as ever. Yet, who got us into this mess if not the government — the Fed with its easy money, Bush with his profligate spending, and Congress and the SEC by liberating Wall Street and failing to step in and stop the drunken orgy?
For years, we Americans have spent more than we earned. We save nothing. Credit card debt, consumer debt, auto debt, mortgage debt, corporate debt — all are at record levels. And with pensions and savings being wiped out, much of that debt will never be repaid.
Our standard of living is inevitably going to fall. For foreigners will not forever buy our bonds or lend us more money if they rightly fear that they will be paid back, if at all, in cheaper dollars.
We are going to have to learn to live again without our means.
The party’s over
Up through World War II, we followed the Hamiltonian idea that America must remain economically independent of the world in order to remain politically independent.
But this generation decided that was yesterday’s bromide and we must march bravely forward into a Global Economy, where we all depend on one another. American companies morphed into “global companies” and moved plants and factories to Mexico, Asia, China and India, and we began buying more cheaply from abroad what we used to make at home: shoes, clothes, bikes, cars, radios, TVs, planes, computers.
As the trade deficits began inexorably to rise to 6 percent of GDP, we began vast borrowing from abroad to continue buying from abroad.
At home, propelled by tax cuts, war in Iraq and an explosion in social spending, surpluses vanished and deficits reappeared and began to rise. The dollar began to sink, and gold began to soar.
Yet, still, the promises of the politicians come. Barack Obama will give us national health insurance and tax cuts for all but that 2 percent of the nation that already carries 50 percent of the federal income tax load.
John McCain is going to cut taxes, expand the military, move NATO into Georgia and Ukraine, confront Russia and force Iran to stop enriching uranium or “bomb, bomb, bomb,” with Joe Lieberman as wartime consigliere.
Who are we kidding?
What we are witnessing today is how empires end.
The Last Superpower is unable to defend its borders, protect its currency, win its wars or balance its budget. Medicare and Social Security are headed for the cliff with unfunded liabilities in the tens of trillions of dollars.
What we are witnessing today is nothing less than a Katrina-like failure of government, of our political class, and of democracy itself, casting a cloud over the viability and longevity of the system.
Notice who is managing the crisis. Not our elected leaders. Nancy Pelosi says she had nothing to do with it. Congress is paralyzed and heading home. President Bush is nowhere to be seen.
Hank Paulson of Goldman Sachs and Ben Bernanke of the Fed chose to bail out Bear Sterns but let Lehman go under. They decided to nationalize Fannie and Freddie at a cost to taxpayers of hundreds of billions, putting the U.S. government behind $5 trillion in mortgages. They decided to buy AIG with $85 billion rather than see the insurance giant sink beneath the waves.
An unelected financial elite is now entrusted with the assignment of getting us out of a disaster into which an unelected financial elite plunged the nation. We are just spectators.
What the Greatest Generation handed down to us — the richest, most powerful, most self-sufficient republic in history, with the highest standard of living any nation had ever achieved — the baby boomers, oblivious and self-indulgent to the end, have frittered away.
Bay Buchanan: From the Right
Don’t Outsource Our Defense Systems
The debate over whether America’s Boeing or Europe’s Airbus should be given the contract to build America’s next generation of mid-air refueling tankers has focused on several important topics.
Read the Rest
The Latest on Pat’s New Book
Pat Buchanan’s latest book Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War: How Britain Lost an Empire and the West Lost the World is out on May 27. You can order it on Amazon.com now, or you can order personalized and signed copies that will be available in July by clicking here.
Read an Excerpt: Man of the Century in Taki Mag
Reviews
Chruchill Hitler and the National Question: From Marcus Epstein in VDARE
Was World War II just as pointless and self-defeating as Iraq? From Peter Hitchens in The London Daily Mail:
John Lukacs, Pat Buchanan, and the Unnecessary Review? From Marcus Epstein in Taki Mag
Symposium on the Unnecessary War at The American Conservative
Little England and Little America by Bill Lind at Lewrockwell.com
Pat Buchanan and the Necessary Book by John Zmirak at Taki’s Mag
The New Relevance of Winston Churchill by Jerry Woodruff in Middle American News
Buchanan and Churchill by Tom Fleming in Chronicles
Was World War II Necessary by Kevin Lamb
Buchanan, Kennan, and the “Good War” by Paul Gottfried in Taki Mag
More Commentary from the American Cause
Memo To Obama: Denounce Sharpton—Have A Real “Sister Souljah Moment”!
From Marcus Epstein at VDARE: On Father’s Day, Barack Obama spoke before a Black church and he charged “AWOL” and “MIA” fathers of having “abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men.” Inevitably, many proclaimed this semi-conservative criticism of African American culture to be Obama’s “Sister Souljah Moment.”
Immigration Update
15 Things You Should Know About “the Race”
From Michelle Malkin - Only in America could critics of a group called “The Race” be labeled racists. Such is the triumph of left-wing identity chauvinists, whose aggressive activists and supine abettors have succeeded in redefining all opposition as “hate.” Both Barack Obama and John McCain will speak this week in San Diego at the annual conference of the National Council of La Raza, the Latino organization whose name is Spanish for, yes, “The Race.”
The Latest on the Culture War
The Diversity Recession
From Steve Sailer at Taki Mag - Uncovering the roots of the disastrous home mortgage bubble that popped last year will keep economic historians busy for decades. Yet, one factor has so far been largely overlooked: the bipartisan social engineering crusade to drive up the rate of homeownership by handing out more mortgages to minorities.
Politics at Its Best and Its Worst
Jesse Helms: RIP
From Paul Weyrich: Once in a lifetime there comes a legislator so great that he transcends ideologies, political parties and personalities. Such a man was Jesse A. Helms, Jr. (R-NC). His greatness is beyond words. His opponents called him mean. He was one of the kindest Senators ever to grace the United States Capitol. His opponents claimed that young people hated the Senator. Among the pages of both parties he was the most popular Senator.
Jobs, Trade, and the Economy
American Innovation Supremacy at Risk
From Phyllis Schlafly - The high-priced corporate lobbyists walking Capitol Hill corridors have a new mantra: innovation. They demand that Congress bring in more guest workers, especially from Asia, in order to maintain American innovation supremacy.
Foreign Policy
Preparing the Battlefield
From Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker- Late last year, Congress agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran, according to current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources. These operations, for which the President sought up to four hundred million dollars, were described in a Presidential Finding signed by Bush, and are designed to destabilize the country’s religious leadership.
LARRY, YOU NEED TO PARTICIPATE IN YOUR BLOG!
Rat Buchanon wins filibuster of the week contest by 200 words. That’s the perfect way to finish off a week. Listening to a small, bitter, reactionary media-type rant about how to fix America.
OOOJ, Pat is none of the things that you said. He is one of the best thinkers on the right of our time. The likely heir to William F Buckley. PAlin supported both of his presidential bids and lines up closer to him on all the issues than she does with McCain.
Pat’s 1992 convention speech is probably the greatest piece of political rhetoric of our time. He was called xyenophobic for wanting to build a fence along Mexican border, it was thought to be a loony idea, the Democrats now support a fence longer than his original proposal. He called the 9/11 attack in late 1990s, his book “A Republic, Not An Empire”, accurately predicted where we are today as a result of Bush’s policy of nation building and uncontrolled free trade. He’s not some Johnny come lately cable commentator, he’s been writting about this stuff since he worked for Nixon and has published several scholarly well researched books. You may not like him but its a mistake to not listen to him, as he gets it right most of the time– unlike our mentor and handsome 60 something media God, Larry Kane.
Did anyone notice Michelle Obama’s snide swipe at Palin? She said don’t vote for someone because they are “cute” then after getting a pit bull in lipstick type laugh, tried to say she was referring to herself. First, she’s not running, second she will never be mistaken for cute.
What if Cindy McCain said dont vote for someone becacue they have rhythm, than after the laughs, said I’m talking about myself. My God, it would be the end for her.
Michelle is getting desperate and has started to play the pretty smart white girl card. It’s going to backfire. Come to Media PA this Monday to see McCain/ Palin in person, there will be lots of pretty white yummy mummies for all of you guys to gawk at.
George, we can agree to disagree on Pat. I find him just another media hack with a right wing slant. Talking head with a GOP point of view.
Michelle, like Barrack, is a condescending elitest that has no clue. Like Hillary 3 months ago, she now believes the White House is hers.
George-I am glad you brought it up, chelle chelle I thought she looked drunk her speech was slurred and had a nasty scowl on her mug, she sounds jealous of the good looking white woman with executive experience and with real hair.
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George-I enjoy Pat Buchanon on the Morning Joe Show he makes alot of sense he is very good on the show.
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OOOj-thanks for the kind words also if the White House had Hillary coming in, I think we would all be better off red and blue.
LARRY, WHY DON”T YOU PARTICIPATE IN YOUR BLOG?
JR, George, there is a reason that Michelle has been hidden and muzzled.
OOOJ-I was going to say that the only thing you’re missing is George but he returned with a bang.Other than that,it’s same old same old.The Pirates & puppets took over early.A sense of entitlement perhaps.And you’re right,Michelle has been put in deep freeze.Not that I miss her
Madame Ice - just now beginning to be proud to be an American… I wonder if that all changes if the Obamas are shuffled back to their trendy Chicago suburb?
LARRY, WHY ARE YOU NOT PARTICIPATING IN YOUR OWN BLOG?
LARRY, DON’T BE A STRANGER ON YOUR OWN SITE!
LARRY, DON’T LOSE THIS NUMBER!
Maybe Larry doesn’t participate because of the sub-insipid right wing talking point commentary about Michelle Obama, who is an attractive and successful self-made woman who didn’t flunk out of college or need to go to half-a-dozen colleges in order to get a diploma. If being intelligent makes one an “elite,” then I think it’s high time we get some elitists back in the White House.
McCain has made himself an utter embarrassment and a joke to the point where conservatives like Andrew Sullivan and the editors of the WSJ don’t even support him anymore. So we know why the right has decided to try to ignore the actual issues and engage in borderline racist comments about Michelle Obama. Race baiting is the only card conservatives have left.
Also, “Boris,” that Pravda piece could legitimately be called sexist. But I have to say that the description of “Mrs. Nobody know-it-all shreiking cow from Alaska” had me shoot coffee out of my nose. You owe me a new keyboard.
Glad I was missed YAP. Leo is busy listening to Terry Gross on NPR and reading the NY Times so he will know what to think and have some talking points later today.
Biden said it’s partiotic to want to pay more in taxes, so Larry will be quite the Patriot under Obama. Did anyone see that Mr Biden’s charitable contribitions were something like $339 over three years. That’s definately a “do as I say and not as I do” liberal example of charity. There’s absolutley no reason for him to be so cheap with a senator’s income, its actually obscence to tell people who work hard and already pay nearly half their income in federal state and local taxes that they should give more when he cannot bear to give more than .1% of his annual income to charity. There is no reasonable explaination other than that he is a cheap cold hearted person who believs his work as a senator in and of itself is some grand form of charity that excuses him from giving an appropriate percentage of his income. He is in the absolute lowest decile of giving for all Americans in his income bracket.
Larry, I don’t know for sure, but my guess is you are much more charitable than your friend Joe Biden, and in fact Jews are some of the most exemplary philanthropist of all Americans. Hopefully such a true statement doesn’t backdraft on me as subliminal anti semitism, but in the current political climate nothing would surprise me. Biden sure doesnt do alot for Irish Catholic generosity. Maybe the Jesuits didn’t get through to him, he definatly missed the class about life begining at conception.