by Phil Gramm says that Americans whine too much about the problems in their lives and that the recession that many economists and pundits say we’re in is largely a product of their bruised psyches.
Gramm:
"You’ve heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession…"
"We may have a recession; we haven’t had one yet."
"We have sort of become a nation of whiners…"
"You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline…"
"We’ve never been more dominant; we’ve never had more natural advantages than we have today"
If only that were true. Gramm’s quite right that we’re a nation of self-centered, self-entitled whiners. One need look no further than the literary indulgences of the political blogosphere to be shown that in no uncertain terms.
Yet there are real causes to our current economic troubles, exorbitant energy prices, incompetent debt management, and confused national leadership foremost among them. Our dominance, to the extent it exists, is in too large a part based on borrowed money and time.
While a positive mental outlook might ameliorate some of the effects of the economic slowdown, I’d say that a purposeful energy policy that accepts the realities of the marketplace and the need for domestic production – even at some risk to the environment – would do a damn sight more to improve Americans outlook about the future.
Instead, voters are about to empower a Democratic Congress and president to implement the exact opposite strategy. Is it still whining when we’re injuring ourselves? Or just desserts?
John at Powerline discusses one example for domestic oil production that has been shamefully neglected by the powers that be. Can we really afford the luxury of ideological prevarication for the next 4 years while we send billions of value-diminished dollars into the bank accounts of people and countries of dubious reliability?
No. Giving Democrats control over both houses of Congress and the presidency would be bad for the country’s energy policy and is one more reason why electing Barack Obama is a bad idea.
