Fable of the Bees

I was inspired from the Blog The Big Picture to read the "Fable of the Bees" and how it relates to what is currently going on in the US economy versus Germany. More to the point it deals with the paradox of thrift, the idea that the more an individual saves, the less the whole group saves overall. Broadly the increase in savings will harm the over all economy. To me it is a no brainer, as long as people are out buying stuff, what ever that stuff may be, then in turn it keeps people making, shipping and selling that stuff. But during a recession, people panic and business lay-off as consumption slows. And here is where the paradox sets in, as people try and save more, they naturally spend less, and as the spend less more businesses panic and lay off more workers. While saving for the future, we are in turn killing that future.

Saving is not a bad thing, to me overspending is the problem. Buying with credit is not a bad thing, it becomes a bad thing when we use credit to buy disposable things. Buying a house is good, buying food is bad. But I get off my point, saving is not a bad thing, and by nature we should save when times get tough. That is why I am with Keynesians on this one, in recessions the government must step in and start consuming. Governments need to invest in infrastructure, be the ones who buy roads and bridges. I am all for the stimulus bill, I think this is an opportune time for the government to start investing. There is much complaining about the deficit running up, but when is a better time to borrow money than when the cost of borrowing money is at its lowest? With people still working, tax revenue is still being generated.

If the government gets involved and applies a slow steady hand then as a whole the economy will merely slow down and not stop. This will keep people working and will allow consumption to continue. This will also keep our infrastructure in good shape or improving what we already have. With Keynes solutions many problems can be avoided, the biggest is the paradox of thrift

Political Cognitive Dissonance.

Can anyone understand why Lynne Cheney is still even a credible Sunday morning guest? Having her in a Sunday morning talk show discussing political matters would be the same as having Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity or Keith Olberman. She does not bring any sort of intelligence to the discussion, only an ideology. When discussing about the health care debate she introduces Obama's speed of speaking about the underwear bomber, and cannot rectify Bushes 6 days to address the shoe bomber.

Continuing in on cognitive dissonance; Harry Reid's comments do not rise to any sort of racial slur. The man is from the Depression area childhood, and using the world Negro does not rise to the same level of calling a comment "honest in'jun." What Steele said, from anyones lips, would be racial slur, it takes a stereotype to describe someone or something. Steele is a bumbling fool and is incapable of understanding who he is or who he should be. He is trying to be cool and hip, instead of a leader of a political party. Maybe now all the criticism will force him to realize the path he needs to take and be a leader. The witting is still on the wall, the Democratic Party will remain in control for years to come, until the Republican Party can get its house in order and change the parties trajectory.