Decade of deception

New York Times columnist Frank Rich has written an apt and important summary of the past decade, and it's not pretty. In short, Rich believes that the 21st century -- to date -- belongs to the spinners and the sham artists.

If there’s been a consistent narrative to this year and every other in this decade, it’s that most of us, (Ben) Bernanke included, have been so easily bamboozled. The men who played us for suckers, whether at Citigroup or Fannie Mae, at the White House or Ted Haggard’s megachurch, are the real movers and shakers of this century’s history so far. That’s why the obvious person of the year is Tiger Woods. His sham beatific image, questioned by almost no one until it collapsed, is nothing if not the farcical reductio ad absurdum of the decade’s flimflams, from the cancerous (the subprime mortgage) to the inane (balloon boy).

 Here in Canada, we can boast, I guess, that we're not as easily fooled -- we didn't join the Iraq war to search for imaginary weapons of mass destruction and our banking system kept us insulated from the worst of the damage of the U.S. market meltdown.   But Rich's (kind of gloomy) retrospective is a good reminder of the need for healthy skepticism.

Comments

[Mike-D]

"we can boast, I guess, that we're not as easily fooled..."

You make it way too easy, SD. We elected Harper. So there goes your argument.

[MyThought]

Excuse me? Harper's PM because of spinning and negativity and lies.

Yup, the poison has leaked to Canada, Republican style.

[David]

Harper is an angel compared to Bush/Cheney. Together they have the blood of thousands on their hands. I wouldn't put anyone on a pedestal these days...

[MCBellecourt]

Harper's only an "angel compared to Bush/Cheney" because he has been kept in check by the fact that he only has a minority government. If he gets a majority, you can kiss what's left of Canada's pride and institutions "hasta la vista baby."

In fact, our CANDU technology is now up for grabs. Little by little he is turning Canada into a backwater.

[Canadianmom]

He's no Bush or Cheney (although I remember how hard he tried to convince us to follow them into War and ignore the UN), but what kind of PM sets out to mislead the public about the nature of our parliamentary system. The blue sweater vest moment was very telling to me. It said a lot about his integrity, or lack there of. The minister of defense was honest enough to contradict him at the time. It made me take a closer look at many things. Unfortunately the general public often doesn't pay attention to the details...

If we are not careful Canada could go the way of the states.Today a women whose child will clearly beneficent from health care reform (and had been told to divorce to in order to keep insurance for her baby) said she believed it was the start of "socialism" and "the gateway to control of our entire lives". This is the impact foxnews the great source of misinformation has had. In this past year Harper has had lunch with Murdoch. I hate to guess why.

We are a smart people but there seems to be a vacuum in leadership right now. Where is our Obama? It will take a great leader to join the majority together.