Weekend Reading, 12/27
Bob Herbert at the NYTimes implores us, as a country, to stop being stupid. It’s a great op-ed - detailing how our country has wasted away the past decade fighting wars and letting our financial system run wild. But Herbert closes with a great quote on the average American:
And, finally, we need to start living within our means and get past the nauseating idea that the essence of our culture and the be-all and end-all of the American economy is the limitless consumption of trashy consumer goods.
The other interesting bit of news is that even resort town Aspen, CO is not immune to the current downturn: virtually everything is on sale. I can corroborate this anecdotally - the lift lines are the shortest in anyone’s memory (in what is historically the busiest time of year). I even heard one report that the hospital is struggling due to a lack of their usual seasonal injuries. You can’t make something like that up.
