Thinking the unthinkable: 3-Month Moratorium

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Monday March 16, 2020 · 1:33 PM PDT

2020/03/16 · 13:33

We’re hearing the word “unprecedented” everywhere we turn these days, but a lot of it comes down to context. Whenever I think about the vaunted American can-do-ness, my thoughts return to probably the most inspiring pull-together moment in post-Civil War American history: our intervention in World War II. It predates me but nonetheless inspires me.

Think what one will of the ultimate outcomes of the Manhattan Project, the notion of going from a whisper in someone’s ear to a laboratory in the desert and ultimately a world-changing weapon within the space of four years would have been said impossible — except by those who achieved it. Similarly, the direct participation by women in manufacturing airplanes and tanks was unthinkable until the month it started to happen. Ordinary Americans made extraordinary sacrifices, most especially those at the bottom of the economic pyramid.

Now we’re faced with a threat that is certain to kill more of us in absolute numbers than all American military and civilian casualties of World War II, which approached 500,000, and make many others homeless. Surely we should be willing to make at least the level of sacrifice we did to prevent the global spread of the totalitarianism. So here’s an idea.

We’ve lived the, ahem, benefits of trickle-down economics for several decades now. How about we try some trickle-up for a change? Putting aside knee-jerk Republican obstructionism, how impossible would it really be to implement a national 3-month moratorium on: consumer and commercial rents, mortgage payments, and credit card payments due in April, May, and June, and suspend the accrual of associated interest? Just put that part of the economy on hold. Leases would expire as scheduled unless otherwise agreed; mortgages would mature three months later.

Alden

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Friday September 16, 2016 · 12:03 PM PDT

2016/09/16 · 12:03

Are you asking yourself that question? Is your campaign asking it?

Because I find myself asking it about you almost every day now.

I’m hearing bland Wishy-Washington-words like temperamental, inappropriate, impolitic, acknowledged, and deplorable when I need to be hearing words like hothead, know-nothing, deadbeat, stooge, chump, played, phony, fake, egomaniac, half-cocked, blackballed, etc — words that peel away reachable Trump voters.

Today’s headline about the birther retraction should be:

Trump Caved On The Central Lie Of His Campaign

Instead he “acknowledged that President Obama is a US citizen.”

What — you couldn’t find a more boring way to say it?

So who are the people you most need to reach with your words — and are your words chosen to reach them or do they tune out words like yours by reflex? Do they even understand what you’re saying? Let’s look at this in more depth.

Alden

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Tuesday March 23, 2010 · 10:04 AM PDT

2010/03/23 · 10:04

These days I often fear that our nation has reached Terminal Stupidity™. I most especially feel this way when I'm at McDonald's (the only place I ever see Fox News) and I see and listen to otherwise reasonable and sometimes well-meaning people around me repeating the blatant and factually incorrect stupidities coming out of the flat-screens, discussing them matter-of-factly as though there were actually some substance to them.

(Perhaps the very circumstance that I ever find myself eating at such a deadly, stupid-class establishment lends support to my thesis.)

Poll

55 votes Show Results

What is the future of our public discourse?

55 votes Vote Now!

What is the future of our public discourse?

It will turn back toward reason and reality

5 votes

It will remain at Terminal Stupidity™

23 votes

Splat!

18 votes

Pie

2 votes

1 vote

6 votes

The Failout Continues

Alden

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Thursday October 09, 2008 · 1:26 PM PDT

2008/10/09 · 13:26

OK, so "failout" is not quite fair. It hasn't had a chance to work yet.

But the Dow got into the 8000's today, putting it 40% down from a year ago. That is, nearly half the value of stocks in the Dow has disappeared. Well, that's not quite fair, either, because those values in the "Bush Boom" were never quite real themselves. Sometimes it's hard to tell irrational exuberance from irrational desperation. I almost wrote, when this all began, that we'd still see the Dow in the 7000's and maybe the 6000's before things turned around. Of course I was thinking some time next year, not already before the election. I don't know whether we're at a bottom yet.

Many Americans feel that because of the failout, the guilty are not paying. And that's not quite the case, either.

Alden

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Sunday September 04, 2005 · 8:51 AM PDT

2005/09/04 · 08:51

I've been trying to get my head around the question of how to rebuild the economy of such a massive area. Obviously it's a lot more than just rebuilding all the buildings. Although such rebuilding provides some economic activity and brings aid dollars flowing into the region, you also have to be creating other businesses. The region can't support itself solely on returnees selling groceries and building supplies to each other. Since a huge proportion of the old businesses are gone for good (except for name recognition in a few cases), new businesses must be conceived and created.

Well, the big picture on that is for brainier heads than mine.

But I have one timely idea that could help the region and the entire nation.

Congress should enact a nationwide, heavily tax-incented program to replace inefficient single-pane residential windows throughout the country with modern, inexpensive, energy efficient, double- or triple-pane windows to be manufactured in the Gulf region. Read More

There's a perfect word for this administration

Alden

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Tuesday July 19, 2005 · 10:14 AM PDT

2005/07/19 · 10:14

Lately I've been noticing the peculiarly aptness of a common misspelling. I've come to believe that the misspelling itself is actually the perfect word to describe this Bush Administration.

So I want to share this word. Just one word.

Are you ready? Read More

Bush Seeking Submissive Cabinet Appointees?

Alden

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Wednesday November 17, 2004 · 10:33 AM PST

2004/11/17 · 10:33

Is George W Bush the most enlightened President in U.S. history, with his apparent determination to build a Cabinet of minorities and women?

Or is he simply installing the people he feels least dominance-challenged around?

(And will the press even ask such a question?)
Read More

Sometimes Bad Things Happen To Good People

Alden

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Wednesday November 03, 2004 · 8:19 PM PST

2004/11/03 · 20:19

There is no way that Bush can do anything other than crash and burn in this second term.

I don't think we had the wrong message or the wrong strategy. Some battles simply aren't winnable.

We need to take the long view. Cliche or not, it really is sometimes best to lose the battle in order to win the war. Read More

Early Vote Impressions, Cobb County, GA

Alden

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Saturday October 30, 2004 · 2:01 PM PDT

2004/10/30 · 14:01

THURSDAY AFTERNOON, Cobb County, GA

Based on what I saw today, it feels like there is a groundswell of something unusual this time around. I'm not sure what it is, but it doesn't feel very Republican.

Interesting experience today.

We went to our local place for early voting today, one of four locations for a county with just over 300,000 registered voters. We arrived 15 minutes after opening and the line was already a couple hundred yards long, winding around behind the building.

Our county is 80% white (by census), about 70% Republican (by impression), mostly Gingrich-loving Republican. Our precinct is about the same. The line was 90% minority voters, mostly black with some Asian and maybe a few Hispanic. The clusters in earshot directly in front of us and behind us were all first-time voters of all ages from about 21 up to the elderly.
Read More

It's time for Kerry to appeal to disaffected Republicans

Alden

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Monday October 25, 2004 · 2:26 PM PDT

2004/10/25 · 14:26

It's time for Kerry to make an explicit appeal to all these disaffected Republicans. He needs to make a laundry list of the traditional Republican values that Dubya has abandoned -- starting with fiscal responsibility, pay-as-you-go, open government, and right on down the list. He needs to look closely at those abandoning Bush and find the common ground they share with us. And then he needs to step out and make a heartfelt speech directly to traditional Republicans who feel betrayed by Bush.

Something along these lines:
Read More

RSS

Thinking the unthinkable: 3-Month Moratorium

Dear Hillary, Just Who Do You Think You're Talking To?

Terminal Stupidity™ and its implications

The Failout Continues

Assist Katrina region with nationwide window replacement program

There's a perfect word for this administration

Bush Seeking Submissive Cabinet Appointees?

Sometimes Bad Things Happen To Good People

Early Vote Impressions, Cobb County, GA

It's time for Kerry to appeal to disaffected Republicans