Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Bobcast: A call for patience to an impatient nation

Latest Bobcast is up. Listen here or read below.
Speaking of his plan to revive the ailing U.S. economy, President Obama on Tuesday sent out a caution. The recovery plans will work over time. Step by step, he predicted, a domino effect will spread from lenders to borrowers to sellers to buyers.
And thus, Obama said, “Slowly, but surely, confidence will return, and our economy will recover.”
“Slowly, but surely?”
In this culture?
Our people, our politics, our elected leaders and our economy are not equipped for “slowly, but surely.”
We are, after all, a nation that taps its collective foot standing in front of the microwave. “When will the baked potato be ready?” we whine. “It’s already been a full 60 seconds!”
And now the president pledges his corrections will work … over time.
Our shot-clock mentality owns a large slice of responsibility for our current financial crisis. Profits had to be maximized now. This quarter. Even top-flight U.S. corporations went for the short-end money.
“Slowly, but surely” seems the right way to rebuild the economy on a firm foundation. If an impatient nation can wait is another question.