Tuesday, May 12, 2009

When to Question "The Decider"

Obama is way smarter than me. He, his cabinet, and his team of advisors face issues far more grave than I will ever have to deal with. Watching the news about the ongoing "recession", the developing presence of the Taliban in Pakistan, among many other world crises, I don't know how the man does it. But more personally, I have a hard time discerning when he has made a good or bad decision right in the here in now. The world of finance is so far over my head. Believe me, I'm a sucker for all these sales and promotions. So when the government says we need to hand more money to the banks, then I say fine, because I don't have another solution. Just like when Bush said we needed to invade Iraq because we would find WMD's. Admittedly, I said OK, let's go. But we didn't find anything, and it was most likely a hunt for oil. And now we've realized in retrospect what a poor decision that was. Not to say that Obama is currently making poor decisions. I think only time will tell for our current President- he has so many curveballs thrown at him, he can only do what is humanly possible. So, without possessing expert knowledge about Wall Street, foreign relations, healthcare, world history, oil, the economy (both housing and business), religions, etc. how can we keep up? How can we not blindly follow the President's decisions? And do we trust our media to keep us not just updated, but explain the context behind the situations at hand? I read several online news sources a day (granted, most of the time only the front page, because I just can't handle any more Bailout or Swine Flu talk), including one and sometimes two foreign papers to find the most broad perspective. But, I still never seem to get the "how things work" answers I need most of the time. And that's probably due to the fact that there is a limited amount of space- both in airtime on tv/radio and in columns in print- and you're to be expected to already know these things. So, if you don't, where do you find out the basics? Wikipedia? Please. If you have all, or at least some, of the answers, please leave a comment!

PS. In the title I mention "The Decider" which is from HBO's You're Welcome, America with Will Ferrell. Ferrell, in character as "Dubbya", jokes that he became "The Decider" after 9-11 happened. If you haven't seen it, check it out- pretty funny (wait until the kids are in bed; bad language). 

2 comments:

  1. Give China Daily a whirl

    http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2009-05/12/index1.html
    As for how things work- the news give you the time it won't tell you how to build a clock. Search blogs in the google box and skip to the 2nd or 3rd page to get away from mainstream media.

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  2. I think Dave Ramsey has one of the best approaches to economics. His message is to empower the people instead of relying on the government to save us or to bail us out. Choose Hope! http://www.townhallforhope.com/

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