November, 2012 archive

In the Roanoke Times, William Fizer laments the ignorance of the wastrel youth:

When Jay Leno asks people on the street simple, common-sense questions, to which they have no answer, we think it’s funny. When author and historian David McCullough speaks to college students across this land, the students make statements and ask questions that shock him. At a recent talk, one college student had no idea that the original 13 states were on the East Coast.

He proceeds to provide evidence of the ignorance of the credulous oldth in the next paragraph, with this farcical statement,

Many Americans don’t know why we celebrate the Fourth of July or that U.S. founding documents are religious in nature, based on Judeo-Christian principles . . . .

which ignores the stated beliefs and actual writings of the founders, who were deeply suspicious of the influence of religion on government, the Wars of the Reformation, the Inquisition, and witch trials being fresh in their memories.

One could stretch a case and claim that, to the extent principles of justice and fairness are in some theoretical fashion “Judeo-Christian,” they may in some way be embodied in the founding documents, but it is ludicrous to arrogate justice and fairness somehow exclusively to the “Judeo-Christian” tradition. (Justice and fairness don’t seem particularly prominent in the thinking of those, such as Pat Robertson, who so loudly proclaim themselves as Christ’s appointed spokespersons in our public debate; vengeance and earthly dominion seem to preoccupy them.)

As I said, it would be a stretch. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America were much more the products of classical and Enlightenment philosophers than of any religious sect or creed.

Mr. Fizer’s distress at the ignorance of American history is, I think, well-taken.

He should start by learning some.

At Psychology Today, Michael Kay sees the alignment:

Wall Street, Washington and individuals have achieved alignment. Unfortunately, that alignment is stupid, careless and destructive. The alignment I am talking about is a severe case of “short-term-itis.” Our thoughts and actions have coalesced to settle in on this immediate gratification mentality. In Washington, it is driven by the next election. On Wall Street, it is all about quarterly earnings. The individual’s, driven by fear or greed, need to have the objects of their desires-now!

Building anything with a short-term destination in mind is an exercise in nothing less than stupidity.

Slight improvement.

Applications for jobless benefits decreased by 23,000 to 393,000 in the week ended Nov. 24, Labor Department figures showed today. Economists forecast 390,000 claims, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.

The drop in claims indicates the job market in the mid- Atlantic region, which employs about 14 percent of U.S. workers, may be stabilizing after Sandy put some area residents out of work at the start of the month.

(snip)

The four-week moving average of jobless claims, a less- volatile measure, climbed to 405,250 from 397,750.

The number of people continuing to collect jobless benefits dropped by 70,000 to 3.29 million in the week ended Nov. 17. The continuing claims figure does not include the number of workers receiving extended benefits under federal programs.