The Feel Good, Sounds Good Generation

The news is that the President’s popularity is eroding, which is perfectly normal considering what he has proposed. 

 Take the energy situation.  The Californians want price caps on electricity costs.  The President says that they won’t work, in fact in the long term will make the situation worse.  The operative phrase is “long term”.  The President is forgetting that the “people want immediate gratification and are not about to settle for a long term solution. 

On to the tax cut.  Again, the gain is long term.  The original proposal by the President did not include the quick “check in the mail” benefit.  Immediate gratification.  Thank heaven the check is not too big and most of the tax cut will be long term and meaningful.

But the people are demanding a perfectly normal benefit.  If you look carefully at it you will note that in the case of the energy situation it repeals the laws of economics.  While they are at it why don’t they repeal the laws of physics so planes don’t have to use so much energy to get in the air! 

Again, the people favor “conservation” over drilling for more oil.  On the face of it, this seems a noble position.  But again it is short-term gratification and a solution that will not work for the long term.  If we focus on conservation most of us think that other people will have to suffer, not me.  Those evil automakers will have to improve the gas mileage of the new cars, but my gas-guzzler will be let go.

The Alaska Wildlife Refuge is another sacred cow.  A place that will not be visited by 99.9999999999% of the population is held up as the poster boy of the evil oil men.  Never mind that 95% of the refuge will not be changed in any way and the drilling area will most likely not have any impact on the wildlife.  So with the current mindset we will not allow a minor change in a tiny corner of that vast land so we can feel good… now.  But long term we will wonder why we don’t take advantage of OUR resources to help out the Arabs.

Why do we want, in fact demand, a solution that is against the laws that will eventually enforce itself and we will pay the price?  Simple.  The government can do it.  With a government so large and with so much money they can do a lot of things that don’t make long-term sense but “give” immediate gratification.  In fact they can do it long term.  Take Social Security for example.  They have kept this Ponzi scheme going for decades.   The President is on shaky ground again by appointing a no nonsense chairman (Former Senator Moynihan) who will propose a long-term solution with real numbers and come out with an honest solution.

The country has suffered from too much short-term gratification.  The congress thinks about the next election that is always less than two years.  The senators have a little longer time frame by there is always about a third of them facing reelection within two years.  Unfortunately they know that we have been weaned on the “gimme now” syndrome and rewards what we can get now and penalize the real truth.

President Bush will continue to see his number erode if he keeps on telling it the way it is.  This is a big challenge… tell the truth and make it a benefit.  It may be just too much for “W” but I for one hope he continues to do so.  Solutions are there, but they will never be found by putting our finger to the wind and see which way a very fickle electorate is leaning.