Future's so bright gotta wear shades.

[BigBagel]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/op...brooks.html?hp

Last sentence of the column: "Surely a country with this much going for it is not going to wait around passively and let a rotten political culture drag it down."

I'm not so sure.

[we_are_toast]

Re: Future's so bright gotta wear shades.

In his book, “The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050,” über-geographer Joel Kotkin sketches out how this growth will change the national landscape. Extrapolating from current trends, he describes an archipelago of vibrant suburban town centers, villages and urban cores.

Here's a trend he forgot to extrapolate;

[thriftyandboringinohio]

Re: Future's so bright gotta wear shades.

I love that snappy tune- Timbuk3


I study nuclear science
I love my classes
I got a crazy teacher, he wears dark glasses
Things are going great, and they're only getting better
I'm doing all right, getting good grades
The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades,
I gotta wear shades

I've got a job waiting for my graduation
Fifty thou a year -- buys a lot of beer
Things are going great, and they're only getting better
I'm doing all right, getting good grades
The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades
I gotta wear shades

Well I'm heavenly blessed and worldly wise
I'm a peeping-tom techie with x-ray eyes
Things are going great, and they're only getting better
I'm doing all right, getting good grades
The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades
I gotta wear shades

[Starving Steve]

Re: Future's so bright gotta wear shades.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/op...brooks.html?hp

Last sentence of the column: "Surely a country with this much going for it is not going to wait around passively and let a rotten political culture drag it down."

I'm not so sure.

With English-only in the public schools, a dollar backed by nothing, the FOMC run by zero-interest rate policy, deficit-spending, outrageous land costs in cities, with the pot-heads in Greenpeace and the Sierra Club setting the energy agenda, and with gangsters taking over our cities, clearly: America's best days are long past. :rolleyes:

[Starving Steve]

Re: Future's so bright gotta wear shades.

If you want to dig-out of this abyss in America, you bring-down the cost of living. To begin to de-flate the cost of living, you lower the cost of land and energy. To to that, you raise interest rates, reward savings, penalize consumption, flood the market with energy, and flood the cities with new land.

The city planners, so-called "ecologists", and Keynsian economists have to be exiled. Kids in universities need to rebel, especially against their professors and against the stupid curriculum being taught.

The way things are now, I see no way out of the abyss. We just sink deeper, until we rebel. There is no soft-landing ahead.:rolleyes:

[thriftyandboringinohio]

Re: Future's so bright gotta wear shades.

Must be gloomy where you are today, Steve.
Here it is 74 F, clear skies, trees in glorious bloom.

We'll find solutions.

"...Fifty thou a year -- buys a lot of beer..."

[don]

Re: Future's so bright gotta wear shades.

The way things are now, I see no way out of the abyss. We just sink deeper, until we rebel. There is no soft-landing ahead.

We've come a far piece.

Soft-landing had been applied first in the popping of the housing bubble.

Then to the early recession years.

Now it's reserved for systemic collapse.

[we_are_toast]

Re: Future's so bright gotta wear shades.

If you want to dig-out of this abyss in America, you bring-down the cost of living. To begin to de-flate the cost of living, you lower the cost of land and energy. To to that, you raise interest rates, reward savings, penalize consumption, flood the market with energy, and flood the cities with new land.

Interesting concept;

[globaleconomicollaps]

Re: Future's so bright gotta wear shades.

I love that snappy tune- Timbuk3


I study nuclear science
I love my classes
I got a crazy teacher, he wears dark glasses
Things are going great, and they're only getting better
I'm doing all right, getting good grades
The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades,
I gotta wear shades

I've got a job waiting for my graduation
Fifty thou a year -- buys a lot of beer
Things are going great, and they're only getting better
I'm doing all right, getting good grades
The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades
I gotta wear shades

Well I'm heavenly blessed and worldly wise
I'm a peeping-tom techie with x-ray eyes
Things are going great, and they're only getting better
I'm doing all right, getting good grades
The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades
I gotta wear shades

not to burst your bubble, but the song is about a nuclear holocaust:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fut...ta_Wear_Shades

I have a lot of mixed emotions about this piece. I will try to post some of them later.

To cut to the chase, I think that recent changes in the political sphere have moved the nation inexorably closer to a new fascist state. The ball has been set in motion and it will be very hard to stop it. This view is not inconsistent at all with a stronger more robust economy and a renewed sense of national pride and identity.

[thriftyandboringinohio]

Re: Future's so bright gotta wear shades.

not to burst your bubble, but the song is about a nuclear holocaust:

I had no idea it was dark satire - I always took it at face value.

[swgprop]

Re: Future's so bright gotta wear shades.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/op...brooks.html?hp

Last sentence of the column: "Surely a country with this much going for it is not going to wait around passively and let a rotten political culture drag it down."

I'm not so sure.

Don't believe I've run across a David Brooks missive I've agreed with yet.

[Master Shake]

Re: Future's so bright gotta wear shades.

With English-only in the public schools, a dollar backed by nothing, the FOMC run by zero-interest rate policy, deficit-spending, outrageous land costs in cities, with the pot-heads in Greenpeace and the Sierra Club setting the energy agenda, and with gangsters taking over our cities, clearly: America's best days are long past. :rolleyes:

I don't get your "English-only" comment (not that you make much sense anyway), but 1) where is there English-only instruction and 2) what is the problem with linguistic assimilation? As Hayakawa said, multi-lingualism is great for individuals, but very stupid as national policy.

[Starving Steve]

Re: Future's so bright gotta wear shades.

I don't get your "English-only" comment (not that you make much sense anyway), but 1) where is there English-only instruction and 2) what is the problem with linguistic assimilation? As Hayakawa said, multi-lingualism is great for individuals, but very stupid as national policy.

I could not dis-agree with you and with Mr. S.I. Hayakawa more. If America is to have an economic future, it will have to integrate its economy into the economy of the rest of the world. That would mean that kids in the U.S. would have to be educated for fluency in the languages of America's trading partners.

Here in California, most business is done with Latin America, so fluency in Spanish is essential. Even to live in California and function in something more than a gated-community, fluency in Spanish is essential.

Why the American public school system still operates in this English-only paradigm of the 19th Century is beyond me? Certainly, business is not going to be done in English-only; not in the future, and not even now. Those days of the world coming to America and speaking English-only are long gone. :rolleyes:

Or let me say it a different way: To live in California and have a chance for something more than a minimum wage job, you need to be fluent in at least two languages, if not three. And sorry, computer languages don't count.

[globaleconomicollaps]

Re: Future's so bright gotta wear shades.

I could not dis-agree with you and with Mr. S.I. Hayakawa more. If America is to have an economic future, it will have to integrate its economy into the economy of the rest of the world. That would mean that kids in the U.S. would have to be educated for fluency in the languages of America's trading partners.

Here in California, most business is done with Latin America, so fluency in Spanish is essential. Even to live in California and function in something more than a gated-community, fluency in Spanish is essential.

Why the American public school system still operates in this English-only paradigm of the 19th Century is beyond me? Certainly, business is not going to be done in English-only; not in the future, and not even now. Those days of the world coming to America and speaking English-only are long gone. :rolleyes:

Or let me say it a different way: To live in California and have a chance for something more than a minimum wage job, you need to be fluent in at least two languages, if not three. And sorry, computer languages don't count.

Steve ... I'm in California too. The people I meet that learn Spanish are rich white ladies so they can tell their maid and gardener what to do.

Just as an aside, I had a co-worker who moved to Sweden and he literally never met anyone that didn't speak fluent English. Even little kids spoke fluent English. This Muti-lingual thing is complex, and there are many many French people that never learned any English, so it impossible to generalize about language expertise. Also Nobody has ever asked me in a job interview if I spoke Spanish. I did on one occasion get asked if I spoke french

[ThePythonicCow]

Re: Future's so bright gotta wear shades.

Even to live in California and function in something more than a gated-community, fluency in Spanish is essential.

I lived in California for 20 years. I speak only English. This was not my experience. English is supported as the dominate, and in some situations, only language. On the infrequent occassion I conducted business with a Spanish only person, we limped along on hand guestures, good humor and whatever English (usually at least a little) they knew. Any bi-lingual person could tell from looking at me a half block away that their best bet was to start any conversation with me in English. I don't recall anyone ever trying to strike up a conversation with me in Spanish and being surprised at my ignorance of their language.