- Hobbits!
- Moronic photo-op
- How to make money without really trying
- Pontiac through the years
- Bold is not beautiful (necessarily)
- Ross Douthat's Times debut
- Was Helen Gurley Brown a feminist icon or a mercenary tramp?
Copyright © 2009 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved.
The New Yorker makes a good point that the criticisms of the administration's failure to be bold are arguments not so much for a bold policy as for a different policy. On the other hand, there is an argument for boldness that the New Yorker does not address.
In a crisis of confidence, which we are in now, bold acts may be more likely to increase confidence. Bold policy decisions may shock the credit markets into moving again. Whereas timidity by the administration may inspire more fear because it signals the administration’s own lack of confidence. The issue isn't so much that the administration actually employs the right policy choice, but that the administration convinces investors and consumers that it has made the right policy choice.
Just as a matter of interest, is Ross's surname pronounced "Do that" or "Doubt that"?
Either way (or undecided), the name seems to fit his work.
According to the press release, it's dow-THUT.