On the year of our Lord, 2008.
We put my father and sister on the plane yesterday and on the car ride back to work, I did a lot of thinking. About how much had changed for me and for my family this past year. I had stayed at the security checkpoint until they vanished from sight. No good reason for that, except I wanted to catch a glance at my father one more time and hope, that he understood how much I love him and just as importantly, am grateful for every thing that he did to help me in my life. I know it cost him a lot, emotionally as well as financially to raise us kids. And here he is looking at us-probably wondering the same thing I am-where did all the time go?
Then there is the year of 2008 in general-which I think can be fairly graded, by any objective standard that I know of as, “sucky”. And that is being generous.
Not so much for me mind you-I really have no room to complain and it would be a sin for me to do so. Even if I am grumpy about not traveling enough. And even moreso ,- in spite of the fact that we are not living in the location I know I want to be living in, and nor can I see Shopping Mall as my long term home-its still important to note that I have a roof over my head ( a pretty nice one, truth be told); a job that allows me to pay the bills and save money for the future; food in the pantry and beer in the fridge. So many people are living their existence on this earth without any, or none of, the above list. So chalk me up on the “fortunate” list. Happy to be here, thank you very much. Acutely aware of how the thin the line is though, that separates one from the “longing for Nihon, but otherwise reasonably content” column and the “desperately seeking gainful employment-anywhere” one. So I give thanks for all the blessings that have been bestowed upon us.
And it was 2008 that drove the economic point home for a lot of us. On average, that “war chest” I was saving up has dropped somewhere between 18-20%. Same is true for the retirement accounts. I count myself lucky though-I could have invested money with this guy. So again, I’ll be grateful and hope that the comeback occurs sooner than expected next year. Now if only I could have the ex’s share of the retirement fall by about 20 to 100%-then the economic downturn might actually be worth it.
Politically, I would submit the year has ended satisfying no one. Sure its great to be finally giving George W. Bush the heave ho from a job that IMHO he never should have held-but at the same time its clear Obama is going to have to walk a fine line and is probably going to end up pleasing no one. Plus the institution as a whole has prominently shown its ability to appeal only to the least common denominator among us. The McCain campaign showed so much promise early on-but through its thoughtless endorsement of Palin, a fraud who should be recognized as such-he tried gain the White House by lowering the bar on quality. I’m sick of hearing about Palin and how she is the “hope for the party” in 2012. I venture to guess that Tina Fey is sick of hearing about her as well. Let’s hope in 2009 she fades away to a well deserved oblivion. It will give her more time to spend with her new grandchild.
Overseas, the news could hardly be considered good-even in the places they tell us the news is good, like Iraq. In Israel the year is ending as it began, with the Israeli’s pounding the stuffing out of Arabs who cannot or will not police their own house. Afghanistan is failing-more troops are already identified to go there and it would seem that on top of being unable to close the books on one war, we will expand another.
I’ll go out on a limb and make a prediction right now-Obama will probably be a one term President. The burden of the war(s)-the cost of those coupled with the fundamental structural problems with the economy are going to make it hard for him to pull a rabbit out of his hat and turn the economy around. It will be stops and starts all the way till 2012. The multi-polar world is marching at us, and we will have saved the world perhaps-at the cost of dragging down our own house. Don’t get me wrong-the US will be a big player on the world stage, if for no other reason than our 5000 nuclear weapons. However the lesson has been learned and the world has realized that you don’t have to fight the war to win it. You only have to be proficient at selling things to it. That economic thing puts the US at a disadvantage because the US means what it says about improving opportunity for every one. Places like China and India have no such burdens. They are quite willing to write off 1/3 of their population to keep wages low over all.
Just building roads won’t solve the economic crisis-nor will putting money in the form of check in taxpayers pockets. Tax rebates or tax cuts will get more money into consumers’ hands quickly, but in today’s environment much of that boost will simply be saved, as people plug the holes in their finances left by the collapsing values of their houses and retirement portfolios, or just pay off debts. In the end, the country will have to face up to the fact that the world changed-and the US did not change along with it. Banking reform, change to the way the government and the people view transportation, and actual investment in technologies that bring business back to the US are hard and take time. If I were the king of the world, I’d be using defense, space, and a whole lot of other long term federal investments to get the economy back on its feet. It worked for Reagan-but don’t forget it took 2 years to take any traction. I’m not so sure the public has that level of patience given the high expectations on the man and office.
But it was always thus and will probably be so 20 years from now. In the meantime the end of the old year is upon us. And so repeats the age old question: Stay in or go out to a party? The S.O. is of the former mindset, she likes to bring in the new year quietly. I on the other hand love the party, the hats, the sloppy kisses at midnight and in the hours leading up to it. I suspect that once again she will get her way.
Doesn’t she always? One of these days Alice……………
Happy New Year!
