Assessing the US Economy: David Brooks is...Chauncey Gardener

Perhaps we were being too harsh on David Brooks of The New York Times ("the drying husks of the fall") yesterday. Gareth Sellers refers us to Being There, the 1979 novel and film in which a gardener played by Peter Sellers becomes President on the basis of his "economic wisdom":

Growth has its season… as long as the roots are not severed, all is well, and all will be well in the garden.

How David Brooks will save the US economy:

[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=5u0JJYpZtHY&feature=related[/youtube]

Lego Politics

After Mike Dunn's story on Lego's "Islamic terrorists" this morning, a reader points us to the creations of the British artist Mike Stimpson:

With (Illinois) Friends Like These...

Last night, I was chatting with guests at the US Embassy about an intriguing spin-off drama from Barack Obama's election: who would be appointed by the Illinois Governor to fill his Senate seat for the next two years?

Little did I know that the Illinois Governor was about to be arrested for trying to sell the seat:

Federal authorities arrested Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich Tuesday on charges that he brazenly conspired to sell or trade the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by President-elect Barack Obama to the highest bidder....

"I'm going to keep this Senate option for me a real possibility, you know, and therefore I can drive a hard bargain," Blagojevich allegedly said later that day, according to the affidavit, which also quoted him as saying in a remark punctuated by profanity that the seat was "a valuable thing - you just don't give it away for nothing."


A 76-page FBI affidavit said the 51-year-old Democratic governor was intercepted on court-authorized wiretaps over the last month conspiring to sell or trade the vacant Senate seat for personal benefits for himself and his wife, Patti.

Otherwise, Blagojevich considered appointing himself. The affidavit said that as late as Nov. 3, he told his deputy governor that if "they're not going to offer me anything of value I might as well take it."

Follow-Up: UK-US Split over Afghanistan?

24 hours after I raised the possibility of division between Britain and the United States over the future approach to Afghanistan, Richard Norton-Taylor offers compelling evidence in The Guardian:

For years the generals have been saying - and their political masters have not dissented - that no military solution exists for any conflict in the modern world, let alone the counterinsurgency operation in Afghanistan. That has been brought home this year, and the British army faces the prospect of being bogged down for years in southern Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, some of the press is now picking up on the report from the International Council on Security and Development that the Taliban are now active in 72 percent of Afghanistan. Three of four major roads in and out of the capital, Kabul, are now insecure. The report concludes, "The Taliban are now dictating terms in Afghanistan, both politically and militarily."

Pointless Economic Comment of the Day

[UPDATE: David Brooks...Is Chauncey Gardener]

For all those who may have lost a job or had the bank foreclose on the house, David Brooks of The New York Times has consoling words for you:

Social change has a natural rhythm. The season of prosperity gives way to the season of economic scarcity, and out of the winter of recession, new growth has room to emerge. A stimulus package may be necessary, but unless designed with care, its main effect will be to prop up the drying husks of the fall.