But We Are a Nation of Whiners
July 11th, 2008 at 9:25 am by CrankyAs you might have heard. Phil Gramm really stepped in it by accusing Americans of being whiners.
The point being made is that our perpsective is too pessimistic.
But the real sin here is that he accused voters of being the whiners. No one wants to hear that. Politicians and the news shows’ full-time job is to convince you that none of this is your fault. Speaking about personal responsibility is a task that neither of these groups wants to embrace.
The mortgage crisis? Ruthless lenders.
The obesity crisis? Big food.
Pain at filling up a 15 mile-per-gallon Land Yacht? Big oil.
Are there people struggling? Some are, of course.
There is a sound bite that makes me clench my teeth every time – “Americans shouldn’t be forced to choose between filling their tank and buying their medicines.”
For (and I’m guessing here) 99+% of us, the question is, do I fill my tank or downgrade my cell phone plan? And the only food lines I’m seeing in the Great Recession of ’08 is at the Outback Steakhouse. It is approximately one hour and twenty minutes, which ought to be a crime. Come to think about it, perhaps I can get a “fair wait” law passed.
Truth is, we Americans respond very well to changing economic conditions.
To Gramm’s point; let’s conclude with a little pick-me-up. Have a nice day.
UPDATE:
America responds appropriately.
July 11th, 2008 at 10:20 am
I have to agree with Phil Gramm. Our country has been inundated with whiners. The MSM is only interested in providing excuses and eliminating personal responsibility for Americans. The MSM is only interested in sticking a camera and a microphone in front of anyone that wants to complain about the government not doing enough for them. They’re pandering for every tax-consumer to show up in November and vote for their hero, Barry Obama.
July 11th, 2008 at 10:28 am
Hear hear! Even growing up in the 70′s and 80′s, a kid would be so inundated with negativism that his outlook on the world would be dramatically darkened. And my father was stymied as to why I was a cynic at age 15.
Along these lines… NPR has a non-commercial commercial:
[Sponsored by] the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation: Because everyone deserves the chance to live healthy productive lives.
Now, I have nothing wrong with the sentiment that it would be wonderful if everyone could do so. My problem is in the wording. The unspoken implication is that by not endorsing this foundation, you believe that everyone does *not* deserve that chance. There is the chance that soft-coercion/programming was not intended, but words are powerful things and should be chosen carefully.
Also, I’m a bit overly-tired of the words “deserve” and “rights” where they shouldn’t be used – namely, in the sense that implies entitlement because you belong to a special subset of society. Laws and procedures ought be made such that they apply equally to everyone, not just targeted individuals, or not be made at all. It would sure cut down on favors and un-necessary laws.
Don’t mind me… three hours of sleep has left me… uh… cranky. I’m sure you understand.
July 11th, 2008 at 11:47 am
I could not have said it better. Phil Gramm said that we are a nation of whiners. So what happens we go out and whine about the fact that he called us whiners. The liberal new media does not want to say that things are going well because that would mean that we don’t NEEED a “change”.
July 11th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
A survey conducted at ShopTalk, a site frequented by broadcast professionals, pretty much agrees with Gramm and condemns the news media for contributing to a self-fulfilling prophecy. The survey results are halfway down the page.
http://www.tvspy.com/shoptalk.cfm?page=1#editor
July 11th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Lemur King,
We have found the the word “deserve” has no useful application besides it’s use in reminding the kids of consequences. As in “if you make that wasp angry, you deserve to get stung” etc… We never use it when it comes to rewarding them. We say you “earned” a raise in your allowance instead of “deserve”.
We try to avoid using absolutes too. Which has started a few fights. “J, you NEVER do the dishes!”…”Well, you just used an ABSOLUTE, I’m telling Mom!”….”You ALWAYS tell on me!” etc…until I’m rolling on the floor in hysterics.
I do agree that words are very powerful.
July 11th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Jonah Goldberg has someinteresting thoughts on how we want a “straight talker” but not really.
Thanks for the graphs Emmett. It’s nice to see the obvious stated so clearly
Hey LK, I think we’re peer. I was scared to death of Ronald Reagan who was personally bankrupting our country while pulling blankets off of street people.
One thing I remember of those days was how I thought the stock market must have been in the negatives because the only news I saw was when it went down. Imagine my surprise when I acutally started following the market.
July 11th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Michelle – great point. I will have to remember that distinction deserve vs. earned.
Reagan scared everybody because they believed what he said whether they thought he was an idiot or not.
I think that was because he didn’t actually use a lot of useless rhetoric – it was backed by some sort of real action at some later point. I would pretty much stand on my head if it meant he could take a third term.
After Nixon, Ford, then Carter… we had no where to go but up, but only by finding a leader with cojones.
I’ll check out the graph once I put the kids down.
July 11th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Lemur King–
Wrong. Ronald Reagan only scared people who didn’t believe what he said.
July 11th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
The collection of survey questions was interesting. What it didn’t say is what I’d find most interesting – a breakdown of those same answers by party or ideological affiliation – Republican, Conservative, Democrat, Liberal (those four items are each distinctly different from one another).
And I posted my earlier comment w/o clarifying a point to Michele – I used the word “distinction” but I really meant that I need to remember to distinguish between the two in my dealings with my kids.
I’m hearing the word “recession” bandied about quite a lot recently. I have two issues with that – we have not yet met the criteria for a depression is my first gripe. My second is based on an observation – people gasp in terror at the fact that the DJIA is below 11,000. This isn’t bad, it’s a market adjustment. Everyone should have been gasping in terror as it rose to 14,000. At that record high it was a baseless exuberance that came along with this financing debacle. Talk about the ultimate in mass hedonism. Now people are crying as if it were the end times just because the market is returning to where it ought to have been all along. That doesn’t mean that things couldn’t get worse – but the media is not doing anyone any favors when they replace solid facts (boring) with hysteria (sells like hotcakes).
Sorry for prattling on, folks. Concerned, but more concerned with what I perceive as people’s overreaction to the wrong things. Hysteria solves nothing.
July 11th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
What is “normal” inflation? 5%, right?
Richard Nixon was so frightened by 5% inflation that he imposed unconstitutional wage and price controls.
It’s all in how you define your terms.
July 11th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Hmmm, Trish… I’m trying to muddle through that. It’s clever, I sense that – it’s just that there’s the issue of painkillers fogging up my brain (overdid it today)… ok… only scare people who didn’t believe what he said… hm.
Ok, I’m with you now, I think I caught it. You’re correct in more ways than one, I believe.
Reagan sure scared the poop out of the soviets.
Richard Nixon was such a bizarre mix of goofy eccentricities, I’m kind of surprised that he was elected. There’s an awful lot of things done in this day and age that would make the Founding Fathers’ skin crawl because it just isn’t rooted in the constitution or oversteps the powers granted to congress/government issue.
July 12th, 2008 at 12:38 am
The funny thing is some of the blogs I’ve read that are the most negative about what Gramm said, are the same one that are most pessimistic about things in general.
Nothing more howl inducing than to tell a pessimist that they’re being unnecessarily pessimistic.
July 12th, 2008 at 7:56 am
I re-read my comment. I should have quit at 2 on my 3 martini lunch.
I only meant that the media spin had me totally sold on their pessimism. Any minute, the Japanese were going to send out eviction notices because they owned all our real-estate. I was a college student at the time and believed that Conservatives wanted to nuke the world, bankrupt the country and drain us of our vital fluids.
When the world didn’t end in 1990 I started to grow a little skeptical.
Trish, good point. I’m too lazy to look it up, but there are two quotes side by side on the unemployment rate. The numbers are the same, but one is touting the healthy economy under Clinton and the other is wailing about the sluggish one under Bush 43.
July 12th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Lee, you make a good point but I’d make a distinction for some cases.
Negative and critical can look like the same thing. Pessimism is purely negative response. Criticism is negative in it’s assessment but (good) criticism offers an alternative to the status quo.
My take on Gramm (as if anyone cared) is that he nailed it but it wasn’t the best time, place, or manner given his current position. Straight talk is a thing I treasure, but you have to use a carrot with the stick if you’re in a position to be noticed.
Yep, Cranky – you need to either be cold or hot on the martini thing – lukewarm half-measures are self defeating.
Tell me it involved gin… (I’m dry these days but I can dream)
July 12th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
I just dropped by to say that I miss you losers. Drop me a line sometime.
Or, start reading Brad Thor books and join his reader forum.
July 14th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
The worst part about waiting in line at Outback Steakhouse is that after all that waiting, all you get is an Outback steak. It’s the Sizzler of the 2000′s, man.