Recently I've been worrying about:

[desh]

1. The government's unwillingness to actually do what economists tell them they need to do to fix our broken country and to take care of people who need help

2. The fact that the Senate is too dysfunctional to do anything at all

3. The possibility that the Republicans might actually nominate someone electable (and all non-incumbents will be pretty electable in 2012 due to #1 and #2 above, as well as due to the European debt crisis, which is kind of #3b on this list)

4. Google suspending people's accounts for no reason

5. Brain aneurisms

6. Police brutality

7. A cold winter

8. The environment being destroyed, thus ruining everything for the next generation

9. The hasty arrival of the next generation before I'm ready, in the form of all my pregnant friends


So how are you?

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Why brain aneurisms?

Also, here's a fun video to question the idea of Keynesian economics being a long term good idea. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0nERTFo-Sk

I've learned enough macroeconomics this semester to be confused and not really have an opinion. Mostly, I learned that taxing $X and spending $X boosts the economy by, roughly $X, because when the government spends, the people who get salaries turn around and spend again, which impacts the economy more than the fact that people spend less when they are taxed. So, I can't fathom why both sides of congress are bickering about how to cut spending and raise taxes. (Sorry, too much detail...my final is tonight. But it has made reading the news more interesting. And frustrating and lacking in nuance.)

-Shosh

[desh]

Because always brain aneurisms.

[smarriveurr]

Because it's such a widely believed fact that someone who needs the support of 50.1% of the voting public can't afford to study the truth, much less tell it. Therefore the right has to act like a government job only counts if you wear a uniform and carry a gun, while the left has to act like taxes are a hand-wringing necessary evil instead of a progressive tool for improving our lives as a whole.

The fact that $X does more good for both the citizens and the economy when the government is spending it on programs than when someone rich adds it to their $X*10^Y stockpile of personal wealth isn't acceptable to most; they're hung up on the idea that the companies squeezing their pockets "create" wealth and the government just "redistributes" it.

Not to mention research showing that societies with a lower Gini coefficient - whether achieved through initial income parity or strong taxation - are healthier, happier, and more successful overall. Seriously. Don't mention that, it makes you a radical fascist communist bent on the destruction of both Mom and apple pie.