IP: Re: A different perspective on boom times

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> From:Poor Richard
> To: <farber () cis upenn edu>
> Date: Sat, 25 Dec 1999 10:38:23 -0700
>
>
> > > AT THE TURN OF A CENTURY, BETTER OPTIONS REMAIN
> > > ...
> > >         To criticize this institutional madness can seem bold, even
> > > brave. How sad.
> > >
> > >         Hopefully, we'll find more strength for such honesty in the 21st
> > > century.
>
> Poor Richard feels compelled to respond.
>
> Criticizing "this institutional madness" is neither "bold nor brave", rather
> it is all too predictable.
>
> Despite its many joys, the reason that Poor Richard dreads this time of
> year, is that it brings out the folks who are desperate to remind us not to
> have a good time because others aren't. Poor Richard apologizes for having a
> good time. Really, he's sorry. But, we already suffered through the politics
> of guilt back in the 1992 presidential election, and frankly, it didn't get
> us anywhere.
>
> Besides, beyond an aside suggesting moving some of the money from the guns
> column of the budget (read: Pentagon's budget) get moved to the butter
> column of the budget (read: UNICEF's budget), there aren't any options,
> better or worse, suggested in the original column at all.
>
> We've seen a large number of grand experiments in the last 60 years, and
> frankly very few of them had much success. Poor Richard apologizes for that
> too. He also apologizes for P.J. O'Rourke's observation that you get more
> world peace out of every dollar spent on the US Marines than every dollar
> donated by Ben & Jerry's.
>
> So, to sum up: if someone's got an original, workable idea, the body politic
> would love to chew on it. In the interim, we'll keep fine-tuning what we
> have today, which seems to work considerably better than anything else we've
> tried before...


******************

A Happy Holiday and a safe New Year

from Dave and GG Farber

******************