Straining at the Seams

James Kuntsler, a man I love to quote even though his sentiments are seldom rosy, had this to say yesterday in his weekly piece:

I don't want to be party pooper, but is it possible that all the 9/11 remembrance hoopla was a kind of weekend refuge from reality for this psychologically spavined nation? Memorializing is easy; acting resolutely in the here-and-now is another matter. To me, the various 9/11 doings that radiated out over the media gave off an indecent odor of triumphalism - a correspondent of mine referred to it as "self-important histrionics." We seem to put on these shows because we don't know what else to do, and because the only truly effective homegrown industry left in the USA is public relations, the business of making your own reality.

He goes on to observe that the failure of Obama's jobs bill is a certainty because the Republicans are going to allow passage of only a fragment of his proposal. Not that it will make any difference even if the whole bill passed. The economy Obama is trying to restore is gone. And it's not coming back. And all this before you even consider the mess the European Union is in. Bank failures there are almost a certainty. Everything is coming apart at the seams.