The New York Times has published a couple of solid pieces that pertain to some of my earlier posts. In "The Great Restoration," David Brooks suggests that most Americans have learned from the mistakes of the last decade and are changing their financial strategies. Debt is no longer widely viewed as an effective financial strategy, and families are now "repairing the economic moral fabric" of our nation. In short, there's no such thing as a free lunch. Mr. Brooks refers to a variety of polls and demographic data in his article and presents a solid case.
What I find especially interesting is that, according to this notion, we don't need massive education reform to solve our financial problems, as I suggested back in July. Because while our economy is immensely complicated, sticking to a few basic principles can go far. Although, if we taught these principles to children and young adults, perhaps another generation would not need to learn the hard way.
The other article, "In Defense of the Back-Room Deal," written by Jordan Tama, provides a concise historical overview of secrecy in Congressional negotiations. Mr. Tama argues that shielded from the media limelight, politicians with opposing views are sometimes able to achieve logical, intelligent compromise. As I argued in this post and many prior, our political system could work so well if, somehow, politicians were not able to communicate with their constituents so easily and regularly. Balance is essential, but less time on Twitter and less time delivering wrote, inflammatory sound-bytes would definitely help to move things along. Then, if we're not happy with the results, we'll throw them out of office.
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