Guess Who's Into the Recession? Leftards Hoping For a Whole-Scale Shift in American Culture, That's Who.
Over at Splice Today, Russ Smith points to recent stories in Time, Newsweek, and The American Prospect celebrating the new frugality that's all the vogue among lefty recessionists. Writers such as Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, journalist Kurt Anderson, and Cornell economist Robert Frank are pushing the idea that maybe just maybe the current crisis will kill the glorious consumer culture that hath given so many spoils to so many people. Especially if the gummint rewrites tax codes to discourage wasteful spending at all levels.
Bushwah, says Smith:
The left doesn't want to hear it, but once the recession does end, the country will need a fully-engaged, humming economy, and for that to happen it's imperative that talented, business-oriented individuals lead the way. Government's role is to be the umpire, not the shortstop, pitcher, and clean-up hitter all in one. It's too early to tell whether Obama, at least if he wants to be re-elected, understands that the United States is a centrist country, and once the furor over AIG and TARP companies dies down, if he tacks to the left and embarks on a program of income redistribution, a Howard Jarvis-like populism will take hold and his "transformative" plans will be scuttled.