The Opinion Blog

'There is no pill' for our economic mess

Friends: Due to budget cutbacks, I no longer have the rights to the work of Tom Friedman of the New York Times. But his Sunday column about the global recession and what it's going to take for us to get out of it is worth readers for those who have the time.

Essentially, Friedman is saying there's no single cause or simple fix for what's wrong with the economy: "We are going to have to learn to live with a lot more uncertainty for a lot longer than our generation has ever experienced."

He's right, which is why this is recommended reading. dc

Predatory lending especially dangerous in hard times

Today's editorial argues that the current economic unraveling makes it especially important that S.C. legislators rein in payday lending in 2009:

S.C. Rep Alan Clemmons, R-Myrtle Beach, showed grim determination recently in renewing his two-year fight to bring S.C. payday lenders under control. Earlier this month, he prefiled a bill for the legislative 2009 session that would limit customers of payday lenders to one loan at a time and cap the annual interest rate for such loans at 36 percent. Passage of his bill would protect our state's most vulnerable residents from the industry's predatory lending practices.

Resuming consumption won't cure our economic ills

Ripped from the wires ... In full contrarian mode, Froma Harrop explains why renewed consumer spending is NOT the path to national recovery:

By FROMA HARROP

Al goes to the doctor.

Al: "I'm still short of breath. I know you told me to quit smoking, and honestly, I've tried. But kicking the habit is really stressful. Doc, can you help me?''

Doctor: "I understand. Let me find a way to help you continue smoking.''

The dollar's ability to store value is near an end

For Doc and Daniel:

From the morning e-mail ... Charles Mills, who calls himself the Confederate Lawyer, argues that modern monetary policy has weakened the ability of money to store value, and that bailouts could finish the dollar off:

By Charles G. Mills

Ordinary people do not need an economist to tell them what the word "money" means. Baroness Thatcher described it quite succinctly as a medium of exchange and a storer of value. To the ordinary person, money is what you can spend now and something that you can still spend after it has been in the bank for a while.

If all Americans were like Dad, there'd be no Starbucks

Ripped from the wires ... Bill O'Reilly indulges in a bit of schadenfreude (look it up) on the financial pickle in which so many Americans now find themselves:

BY BILL O'REILLY

One of the things I am deeply grateful for this Thanksgiving season is that my father was a frugal guy and made a big deal out of it. A child of the Depression, William O'Reilly Sr. hoarded his dollars and lectured his children on saving, not spending, money.

Being the global economic hub is no longer fun

Ripped from the wires ... David Brooks explains how traders and economists sucked the humanity out of the global economic system until human behavior caused the system to sputter and crash:

By DAVID BROOKS

Every few years, the world seems to face a new testing time. After Sept. 11, leaders had to figure out how to respond to Islamic extremism. Now we face another test. Today, leaders around the world have to figure out how to stabilize economies amid volatile global capital flows.

It's not irresponsible to hate the bailout

Ripped from the wires ... Howard Troxler provides us a glimpse of ordinary Americans trying to figure out the bailout bill:

By HOWARD TROXLER,

Tom, Dick and Irene go to a bar to figure things out.

TOM: Y'all, I am still having trouble getting this bailout thing.

DICK: Looks simple to me. It's about the taxpayers helping out rich so-and-sos on Wall Street.

Anyone wanna read the financial bailout compromise?

Friends: Below is a link to the text of the draft compromise financial bailout bill to which Congress tentatively agreed today. Warning: Unlike last weekend's original proposal at three pages, this puppy is 106 pages in length. I'm going to work through it as time allows to see if anything troubling (over and above the fact this is happening at all) leaps out. Comments from those who care to do the same would be most welcome. dc

Download bailoutbill_092908.pdf

Comments?

We need to invest in our future, not just bet on it

Ripped from the wires ... Tom Friedman explains what went wrong with Wall Street and how we can fix it:

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

Watching some financial stocks just get wiped out in recent months, I often hear a voice in the back of my head, and it is the same voice as one of those dealers in Las Vegas who coolly tells you as he sweeps up your chips after you've busted in blackjack: "Thank you for playing, ladies and gentlemen.''

'Yoked-dog' effect paralyzes American consumers

Ripped from the wires ... A Duke economist explains why Americans feel helpless even though economic indicators are relatively strong:

By Dan Ariely

We have a market paradox on our hands. Consumer confidence is close to a 40-year low, suggesting that the economy is in worse shape now than in times that seemed far darker, such as the early 1980s, when inflation and unemployment both crept into double digits. Yet many of the current economic indicators, including inflation and unemployment, are rather positive -- or at least not as negative as consumer sentiment implies.