Tuesday, December 01, 2009

An Open Letter To Larry Kudlow

Larry wrote this open letter to Tiger Woods. After reading it, I thought I'd write Larry an open letter of my own:

Dear Mr. Kudlow,

Who cares?

Why should we care?


Look, you are one of the top economists of our day. Many of us enjoy reading your well-thought out essays as often as you can churn them out. I know, I do. But please, stop with the silliness.

Speaking strictly personally, I cannot believe that you took the time to write something to and/or about a man who should already be smart enough to know this stuff. I cannot imagine that he does not have advisers who know it and really doubt someone hasn't already told him by now. Whatever compelled you to do such a thing?

Maybe you are asking yourself, "Why does LA I care about what I write?" It's not because I want to tell you what to do, that's for sure. Because you can also be sure that I believe in a strong free press and the freedom to express any opinion despite the validity, or lack thereof.

I just think that a man as brilliant as you are should not be wasting valuable time, money, and ink on a celebrity that has made a certain bed and may now be forced to lay in it. I think your time is much better spent on how the nation is going down into the hole, deeper and deeper by the day.

Maybe you could write something on the current healthcare bill and it's projected ramifications for the next generation or two. How about more on Washington's desire to take over more and more of the responsibilities of the private sector (and drive them into the ground with everything else they get their hands on)? Because we both know that everything, everything, the federal government touches turns into utter garbage.

You made a comparison to the situation with Mark Sanford, the Governor of South Carolina. At what point did a noted scholar such as yourself decide to equate an athlete with an elected official? Help me as I ponder this through, will you?

One man is put into his leadership role by the people. The other just knows how to use a talent God gave him, simply to make a living. (And he does it). A governor owes the people an explanation for what he did with public funds, while being employed by those people. An athlete owes us nothing.

Needless to say sir, you may surmise that I am a bit disappointed. It's not that you need my approval, either. But I think if you take a moment and think about what I have written here, you will plainly see that I whole-heartedly believe that you can do much better than this. There are many, many pressing issues this nation is facing right now and much of it has to do with money. Surely, there is something you can do to help facilitate the arguments that must be made right now.

As for Tiger, he will be fine. Eventually the press will make him cave and he will come clean with things, but only when he feels like it. I really do not care what he does either way, because my life does not live in the balance with this issue. Neither does my children's and grandchildren's future have anything to do with the decisions of Mr. Woods. But they do count when we speak about an out of control Congress, and an Executive Branch -- which has the least amount of private sector experience of any other in my lifetime.

I expect to hear about tawdry stories and the fallout from such things via those who specialize in tabloid media operations. So please understand something, will you? It is that very component that has kept this non-story alive and you have just helped them. Instead of helping us learn more about what you can teach us, you allowed yourself to be pulled into the world of cheap press, far away from the world of the true intelligentsia that you are used to.

Now, please for the love of humanity. Get back to work and help us make some sense of this damned world.


Sincerely,

L A Sunsett


11 comments:

Mary Ellen said...

I've always hated golf...boring as hell.

We have an economy that's being sucked into the sewer, record unemployment, two wars, and a President who's living high with his gala parties on the White House lawn...and the news media is talking about a golfer who got in a fight with is wife? Honestly. It's crazy.

L'Amerloque said...

Hi LAS !

In Amerloque’s humble opinion, this Kudlow fella doesn’t know too much about economics, either ! (grin)

Best,
L’Amerloque

Palin in 2012: Leadership, character, integrity and honor !

Chuck said...

I have never been bitten by the celebrity-worship bug. I think we have an unhealthy obsession with Brittany Spears, Hilton (Perez and Paris), etc.

I remember watching Fox one day and they were talking to a US Congressman about some national issue before them, they cut him off in mid-sentence to cut to Kobe Bryant coming out of the courthouse during his rape/sexual harrassment rial.

I had always thought the media was trash in this country but that really drove it home for me.

A.C. McCloud said...

Many of us wish for the things Tiger has accumulated--hot Swedish wife, no worries of money, travel, fame, family, etc. Yet with all that he still had to dip the wick with a cocktail waitress in Vegas, risking it all.

It's like watching a trainwreck, I guess.

LA Sunset said...

//I've always hated golf...boring as hell.//

More fun to play than to watch. But I haven't played in years.

LA Sunset said...

//In Amerloque’s humble opinion, this Kudlow fella doesn’t know too much about economics, either ! //

I am a supply-sider, so naturally much of what he writes about that philosophy is something that I am apt to agree with.

Like others, I don't always agree with him.

LA Sunset said...

//I had always thought the media was trash in this country but that really drove it home for me.//

Which came first the chicken or the egg? The supply or the demand?

The fact that even FOX gets into this act is enough to surmise that the demand is what drives the decisions to cover this crap, ad nauseum.

LA Sunset said...

//Yet with all that he still had to dip the wick with a cocktail waitress in Vegas, risking it all. //

It's amazing to say the least.

I know his father's death must have been a blow to him. I can't say it excuses this kind of poor decision making. But maybe it sheds a little more light and explains some of it.

L'Amerloque said...

Hi LAS !


--I am a supply-sider, so naturally much of what he writes about that philosophy is something that I am apt to agree with.


Like others, I don't always agree with him.--


Amerloque has no problem whatsoever with supply-side economics. (wide grin)


It’s the man, not the philosophy.


Why ? Two reasons:


Firstly (Wiki sums it up nicely …
http://tinyurl.com/3c59m2)


/// …/… Kudlow firmly denied that U.S. would enter a recession (in 2007) or that the U.S. was in recession (in early and mid 2008). In December, 2007 he wrote: "The recession debate is over. It's not gonna happen. Time to move on. At a bare minimum, we are looking at Goldilocks 2.0. (And that's a minimum). The Bush boom is alive and well. It's finishing up its sixth splendid year with many more years to come". In May, 2008 he wrote:"President George W. Bush may turn out to be the top economic forecaster in the country" in his "R" is for "Right". …/…



At the time Amerloque was struck by K’s refusal to take into account the perceived economy around him. He seemed to be either a) insulated from reality or b) wearing particularly thick rose-tinted glasses. He doesn’t seem to have realized just how much global interdependence affects the US economy, at least in Amerloque’s view.



Secondly, K seems to think that “business” and ‘”people” are simply two separate entities, sometimes vying for money, influence, glory. (He is not alone in this, of course. (wide grin)). Perhaps he has been unable to change his views of the universe since his days in the SDS (a group that Amerloque knew well …) It’s that whole “leftist vs capitalist”, black-and-white view of the world that Amerloque disagrees with. He is sometimes not Manichean enough, while at other times he is far too much. He opposes a mode of behavior (“capitalism”) with a system of governance (“socialism”). (One must also wonder in passing just why Islam Is consistently recognized as a “religion”, and not as a system of governance.)



People are business, and business is people, in Amerloque’s humble view … he should’ve made his original comment clearer. Apologies.



Best,
L’Amerloque


Palin in 2012: Leadership, character, integrity and honor !

LA Sunset said...

Amerloque,

I am not ignoring your remark, just not enough time right now to address it properly, as it deserves to be addressed.

Will get to it soon, sorry.

LA Sunset said...

Hi Amerloque,

Sorry for the delay, but I have been busy with life at my age.

I have always taken economic forecasts with a grain of salt. I have tried not to put too much confidence in them. I have more confidence in the weatherman.

//He seemed to be either a) insulated from reality or b) wearing particularly thick rose-tinted glasses.//

During the 2008 election, it was plain that the battle lines were between that of gloom and doom, and rosy red future were drawn. One side wanted Wall St. to stay stable, so naturally they promoted it. The other side wanted us to know that the world was going to go to hell and they let us know that's what they thought. This started somewhat in the 2004 election, but didn't start to happen until the look toward 08 got into swing, in 2006.

In my mind, the correction was turned into much worse than it would have been, had the Dems not played the economy down to continue their march toward more power.

That said, I think Kudlow was with those who needed desperately to do anything to minimize the damage that was happening. So, being the Bush supporter he was, he talked turkey about the economy so as to keep a Republican in power. It was political, yes. But we all got political in 08, because passions ran so deep on both sides.

When it became clear that the storm would not be weathered, for whatever reason, he dug himself in deeper hoping. He wasn't the only one.

But more than his political agenda and poor forecasting skills, I have enjoyed reading his articles and listening to him speak on supply side topics, with my favorite being tax cuts. He has a way of weaving economic lessons into his essays, much unlike my microeconomics prof back in college.

Hence the purpose behind my overly animated rant at him: to redirect him back to the things that I enjoyed. And believe me when I say, I did not learn much from him counseling Mr Woods.

;)