Fareed Zakaria Agrees with Me!

When I got my latest issue of Newsweek, I saw on the cover that Fareed Zakaria had written the cover article entitled "The Bright Side." After reading it, I was so excited that he echoed some of the points I made in my previous post! I'm not blowing steam out my behind after all! Someone else thinks like me and that someone has the ability to reach the masses. Let's face it, not that many people are going to read my blog but thousands of people will read his article. He says that we shouldn't "as some noted economists advocate, stimulate the economy with more tax cuts. That would be only one more way to keep the party going artificially - like asking a drunk to go to AA next year, but in the mean time to have more whiskey. A far better stimulus would be to announce and expedite major infrastructure and energy projects, which are investments, not consumption." And not only that, but in the Inside Business section titled "Yes, It's a Wreck But We Can Fix It" a few of the contributors also echoed what I wrote. Joy! I think we just feel like we need to stop borrowing so much and learn to save first. That's what my parents taught me but that's not what we're doing as a nation. Why promote tax cuts now only to pay for it later? And regarding the fallout of our economic crisis, I believe we just need to take our lumps (huge lumps!) and grow from this experience for the future. Ah well, I don't want to start lecturing again.

I do want to talk about a recent experience I had with a colleague of mine. Normally I don't like to discuss my political beliefs at work - I just feel like it stirs up so many emotions in people and pins them against each other and that's not really what I want in a working environment. When asked about the debates, I talk about both sides because both seem to present at least something. However, last week I went to lunch with a guy from work and he asked me who I was leaning towards in the election. I responded by saying that I think that I'm leaning towards Obama. BIG MISTAKE. Afterwards, this guy would not stop talking about how that is the wrong decision. He said to me, "I don't know how any intelligent person would vote for Obama knowing that he's going to take money from your pocket." Apparently this colleague of mine makes enough to be placed in the tier that would be hit with a tax increase; I certainly don't make that much. "Obama is a socialist who wants to redistribute wealth," he said, pointing his finger angrily towards me as if that's a bad thing. Why is it OK for the gap between the middle and upper class to continue to rise? Color me a socialist if it means that I prefer to think that every one of us gets lifted if we look out for the majority. The way I see it is that the more that the majority earns, the more they'll be able to save or spend and thereby increase liquidity in our economy, or at the very least, save for that 20% downpayment for a house and the subsequent mortgage payments. The trickle down theory is a nice theory but the wealth still lies in the hands of a minority. Anyways, after I opened my mouth in support of Obama and realized what I had gotten myself into, I chose not to say another word for fear of having to hear more crap spew from him. It's one thing to have a political discussion with someone with whom you can bounce ideas off ofand gain mutual insight into the other's point of view and it's another thing to have to listen to what I had to sit through. This is why I don't like to discuss political beliefs at work. Lesson learned.