Palin’s America: A Nation of Small People
There are different forms of evil. My post earlier today, in the form of official misinformation, was one. The picture to your left is another, more primitive one.
There are different forms of evil. My post earlier today, in the form of official misinformation, was one. The picture to your left is another, more primitive one.
The voter fraud issues raised in Ohio have existed since, well, since well before the famous Chicago line: “vote early and often!” Ballot stuffing, flyers distributed in poor areas telling people that “their voting day” was the day after the elections, and other voting-day trickery, have been around for decades, if not centuries.
Falsehoods:
- “…to make sure voting goes smoothly. Straight party voters, especially Democrats and Libertarian, will need to check all races. Some races do not have candidates from the Libertarian and Democratic parties.”
- “A voter can vote Straight Party and have all of their votes count. They can also vote straight party and then select every Democrat again, if they so choose. What WILL cancel a Democratic selection is if they cast a vote for Republican in a contest, but it will only cancel their Democratic selection for that race and that race only.”
Truth:If you do not wish to vote a straight party vote, you must mark each individual candidate for whom you wish to vote, and then cast your ballot. If you select straight party line, and thne check individual candidates, this could cancel your vote for those candidates [assumedly because this would be “two votes” for the candidate?]”
(Paraphrased from an email sent today by the Jaime Lynn campaign to all registered Democrats in the candidate’s area.)
This evening I spoke with the owner of a wine store. He said that my sales are actually up compared to the last three months of last year. I’m getting a lot more customers buying by the glass, as opposed to people coming in to buy bottles and take them home. I get a better profit on the per-glass sales.
Sure, this isn’t anything as scientific as something Angelo Angelou could put together in Central Texas. Or what the big marketing firms could query and sort on. But it is, I think, a fair snapshot of life in this new economy. People are spending about the same, but smarter, or in different ways, or more tactically. That bottle at home is better spent as three glasses at the bar, with friends. Topping off the gas tank feels less like a fill-up, even if the cost is the same (or greater, factoring the time to drive to the station).
The next hit will come when the retail credit dries up, and that, I think is part of why the government today focused its energy on unfreezing the credit markets. Because 80% of retail sales happen between October 15 and January 15, and what happens in the next three months will permanently impact who is in business, and how they will sell, in nine months. And without ready credit for retailers to purchase goods to sell, or factors to handle the accounts receivable from credit card sales, this will probably be the first true “Black” holiday period in a very long time.
I had the opportunity to talk with three folks representing what I think are interesting data points regarding the economic situation and its effects over the last three weeks. Again, comments are paraphrases, not quotes:
From a car repair place: Business is about the same… but folks are being more careful about what they’re repairing. And they’re holding off on repairs, especially if they have high deductibles.
Top Line Liquor From a liquor store owner: I’m still selling. But people (gestures toward single malt scotches), are buying the cheaper stuff, not the expensive. (Points at the bargain, economy priced bourbons and scotches.) More like these, and less (waves hand upward to the $70 bottles) like those. But hey, things will get better eventually. I’m downgrading this guy from owner to manager… clearly he hasn’t looked at credit terms lately.
What’s interesting is that I’m getting a fairly homogenous set of responses (this post and the last) in terms of the economic impact. Everyone seems to be getting hedgy with their investments. Everyone seems to be acting, if not executing, on a more conservative, less confident, track.
I think this is how the 1929 crash started, except they didn’t have folks like me making connections quite as fast. (No, that’s not a reason to self-sensor!) I predict we’ll get to the 8,000 range well before the winter holidays. Unless Obama gets elected, in which case all bets, unfortunately, are off. At least with McCain/Sarah [mammoth hunter] Palin we know where we’re headed. [Okay, that was partisan, but if you’ve been reading this blog… you know where I stand.]
I’ve been collecting comments from people running or managing retail businesses, to see what changes consumers have been made.
From a gas station manager: People are pumping differently. They’re not filling up, but I see them around more often. They’re topping off, like on their way home and stuff.
From a hair stylist: Business is down. Not during the weekends, then we’re real busy. But people aren’t coming around during the day. Like now (gestured at the empty store): between like one and five in the afternoon it’s totally dead.
From a supermarket manager: Overall receipts hasn’t changed. But people are buying less each time, and coming more often instead. And they’re coming in more with shopping lists; they’re not shopping casually.
People are talking about Main Street, and the reality of the economic impact on plain folks. These observations, to me, mirror more the crisis of confidence precipitating the Great Depression rather than technical credit crisis. 401(k)s, pension plans and the credit markets will eventually recover, with or without a government bailout (and yes, I still think it’s a bailout, no matter what the pundits might opine). The crisis that has to be overcome now is the one of consumer confidence, and there are several relatively inexpensive, non-pork ways to ameliorate consumer fears:
There are other ideas, ones that we’d need to think about, ideas that might not be right for every region of the country, but workable in some. But what we really need is time. Time not to rush, time not to act hastily. And if that results, as President Bush said last week, in the loss of $1.4 trillion in “value” to the country, in the form of a loss of stock value, then so be it.
Calm, thoughtful action is economically more prudent than rash, panicky and doom-driven action.
The Veep debate will be quite the hoot. For you Dems, here’s a drinking game. If any Republicans have a matching game for Biden, please forward it to me and I’ll put it up alongside this one!
P.S. I made one fix: she had Gov. Palin’s son’s name as “Track,” so the line didn’t work. Mine’s snarkier.
SARAH PALIN DEBATE DRINKING GAME
I’d love to see the Republican view of this: Please, bring ’em on!