Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ya-ta Boy]

Here's a really good article about how Obama thinks.

"Here's the bottom line," he said. "We will do what works. It is going to take time to lay out every aspect of this plan, and there are going to be certain aspects of any plan... which will require reevaluation and... some experimentation -- [a sense that] if that doesn't work, then you do something else."...

In such comments, and his remarks about his willingness to work with or without Republican support in Congress, Obama may be revealing much about his conception of leadership. He was insistent that a president's responsibility is to resist the daily (if not hourly) scorekeeping of the modern political and media system and keep his eye on the horizon. "My job is to help the country take the long view," he said. Obama portrayed himself as willing to consider a broad range of perspectives for responding to the country's daunting problems -- "We're going to... work with anybody who wants to work with us constructively," he said at one point -- and open to adjusting his own course to bring others along or simply to respond to evidence that his ideas aren't working. But repeatedly he declared that no one should interpret that to mean he lacks any clarity about his goals: "My consistent bottom line is: How do we make sure that the American people can work, have a decent income, look after their kids and we can grow the economy." Any compromises or course corrections, he argued, must serve those overriding priorities.


http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/nj_20090214_5045.php

I have to say that I like this. It is almost exactly what FDR said in 1932:

It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.

At another time: One thing is sure. We have to do something. We have to do the best we know how at the moment... If it doesn't turn out right, we can modify it as we go along.


Some other fun FDR quotes:

Competition has been shown to be useful up to a certain point and no further, but cooperation, which is the thing we must strive for today, begins where competition leaves off.

It is an unfortunate human failing that a full pocketbook often groans more loudly than an empty stomach.

If we can boondoggle ourselves out of this depression, that word is going to be enshrined in the hearts of the American people for years to come.

Don't forget what I discovered--that over ninety percent of all national deficits from 1921 to 1939 were caused by payments for past, present, and future wars.

[Kuros]

How do you measure whether a policy is working or not?

If you're taking the long-view, how long should you stick with the policy and at what point should you give up on a policy?

Truly I'm glad the days of right-wing ideology are behind us, but I am curious what this pragmatism really means, and whether there is some guiding ideology behind it at all (I hope there is some).

[ManintheMiddle]

Ya-Ta Boy speculated:

[Jeff's Cigarettes]

Yeah, I have to say that ole Jugears is off to a brilliant start. The porkulas bill shows that he knows his constituents well. No one EVER moved out of poverty as long as the gubmint checks arrived on time. Congratulations!

[Rusty Shackleford]

The majority of the spending is to take place in 2010 and 2011. The economy will probably be recovering on it's own by then anyway, just in time for the dems to step in and claim the credit.

It's easy to say "We have to do something", but that something could just as easily make the situation worse. The most shameful part is that the so called stimulus bill has nothing to do with economics (in fact as many economists disagree with it as support it), it is purely politically motivated with no thought to the underlying systemic problems in the economy.

The Japanese suffered a lost decade from their own stimulus packages. The US is probably going to unleash a lost 3 or 4 decades on the whole world and for what?

[visitorq]

[Ya-ta Boy]

[Rusty Shackleford]

[Kuros]

[Ya-ta Boy]

Oh, pshaw!

People are running around in a panic saying already that the Stimulus Bill has failed and it hasn't even been signed yet. (Well, maybe it has--it's 6:30 am here in Korea.) Paul Krugman was on last night saying the stimulus parts were good--but too small--but that the tax cuts were either 'eh' or 'bad'.

Anyway, since last September 'they' have been saying things will get worse before they improve so I'm expecting a herd of talking heads who never wanted a stimulus bill of any kind in the first place to spew their negativity every 10 seconds or so.

One of Obama's biggest obstacles is that just about the whole public has been raised on TV where every plot line is resolved within the hour. People who are the nervous types are warned when they invest not to watch the market everyday. I think that's wise advice for everyone in this kind of situation.

[Kuros]

[Ya-ta Boy]

I've long contended that the vulgarization of American popular culture has created a virtual famine of colorful negative expressions that are useful and less boring than simply 'bs' this and 'bs' that. My grandparents could say things like, "Hogwash, you dolt!" or "Pshaw, you dunderhead!" and not blush. Our language is the poorer for the loss.

So, "Gadzooks, you nincompoop! Obama's doing a bang-up job so far."

[agentX]

[Ya-ta Boy]

[ontheway]