You don't need a political blog to tell you it's a holiday. But permit me to take a moment between drumsticks to note some reasons (mine and others) for thankfulness. (To those of you who don't like politics at the turkey table... well, what are you doing looking at the Internet on Thanksgiving, anyway?)
- The Keystone XL pipeline is seriously if not mortally wounded... thanks in part to a dedicated Republican rancher in Nebraska named Randy Thompson, who unlike TransCanada gives a darn about clean water and fair play.
- I'm not sure I'll be thankful for a Yes vote, but I am thankful for the chance for a big public discussion: Secretary Gant certified Initiated Measure 15 yesterday, concluding that advocates of a 1% sales tax to fund K-12 education and Medicaid submitted 28,673 valid signatures (out of 35,251 total signatures gathered). That 81.34% validity rate is slightly better than the 80.26% posted by Dems to put Referred Law 14 on the ballot. It also beats the 77.78% validity rate on the smoking ban referral petitions gathered in 2009.
- We can also be thankful that Secretary Gant and South Dakota law won't stand for the silliness of convicts and capitalist pigs trying to trademark place and people names.
- The Governor is thankful that the Daugaards and Schmidts will be able to enjoy a big family dinner thanks to the handy "spacious temporary housing" we taxpayers provide our chief executive.
- Not every belly is full this day: Senator Tim Johnson reminds us to think about the hungry among us... and about the federal programs he has consistently supported to help our fellow Americans.
- Representative Kristi Noem tells us we enjoy exceptional prosperity and liberty. Nuts to all that negative press, says the Congresswoman; we should count our blessings. I count among them a Democratic Senate and President who protect our liberty against the destructive and self-serving policies of politicians like Noem.
- And let us all give thanks for Reverend Billy, who greets Black Friday with a sermon on the violence of consumerism.
"And let us all give thanks for Reverend Billy, who greets Black Friday with a sermon on the violence of consumerism."
Let's hope that no one gets killed in opening-minute shopper stampedes this year. One can only wonder what people in some of the less materialistic cultures must think when they see or hear about episodes like that in the good old USA.
Cory, doesn't consumer spending drive our economy? If everyone decided to go for some serious belt-tightening -- I mean really serious -- and cut their spending in half, wouldn't that hurt businesses and worsen the recession?
Does capitalism contain a built-in contradiction, encouraging overspending that ultimately leads to excessive debt, at all levels from the individual to the entire nation, the entire world?
What sort of system would work better? Most of the "social democracies" in Europe are having a worse time right now than we are. Only Germany and Canada seem to be doing relatively well, right? Should we emulate them? I suspect most Americans would rather not.
"The violence of consumerism," the assault of commercials on our senses, does old and tired. This past week, I got my most recent issue of "Wired" magazine; it comprises one ad after another after another, with only a little substantive content near the back, generally expressing an admiration of this or that or the other mortal human as if they were gods. Latter-day paganism at 100 gigabits per second, that's all.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn put it well when he described capitalism with the outburst, "To spit in the eye of the passerby with advertising." But how else can an economy work? Is capitalism the "least bad" choice among a bunch of lousy alternatives?
I have plenty to thank the Lord for, anyway. I enjoy my work, my health is okay, my parents are both still alive (88 years young) and I get along pretty well with all of my relatives. Plus I've got places like this to rant in ...
Fine comment, Stan! "spit in the eye": people who put up "No Soliciting" signs are clearly Communists.
Consumer spending driving the economy: that's a question I've been wrestling with since the recession started coming on four years ago. I've regularly urged people to buy less stuff and to skip the holiday shopping madness... but yes, such prescriptions would lead to a grave economic downturn. Our economy appears to be built on creating and never quite satisfying everyone's wants. Can we build a healthy economy based solely on meeting people's needs?
The frenzied consumerism of Black Friday fuels a psychopathy we should all find alarming: woman uses pepper spray in "competitive shopping" at Wal-Mart.
Okay, just for the sake of thinking outside the box, consider for a minute that the US economy is a great big casino.
Basically, there is no way over the long run the people coming to the casino can win, but the casino owners know they at least have to make losing a fun, exciting, and entertaining experience with enough little perks to keep the peeps coming in to unload their pockets.
That means, every once in a while, the casino owners have to give some of those big bucks they won back.
A crazy idea, I know. Just thinking outside the Big Box Store over here.
We Americans do not suffer from this sickness alone ...
http://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/2011/11/25/thousands-erupt-outside-indonesian-mall-over-blackberry-bold/
Perhaps, Bruce, we should impose a tax to address that sickness. Professor of economics Robert H. Frank recommends a tax on early Black Friday sales. I recommend simply staying bed... preferably with a fellow non-shopper.
Leave it to a professor of economics to come up with another new tax.
I avoid stores on "Black Friday" and on the following Saturday or Sunday as well.
I need some stuff at WalMart but I won't go near the place until Monday at the soonest.
We went to the grocery store yesterday morning, but I haven't been in a regular retail store since Tuesday afternoon. Don't need anything, can't afford anything!