The Three P’s of Early January: Primaries, Playoffs and Problems in Europe

The Three P’s of Early January: Primaries, Playoffs and Problems in Europe

By: David Van Rossum

    Primary season is here. Iowa kicks off our political version of Survivor today. How many will stand after contests in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida? Three? That’s my guess. The debates have been predictably vapid with more attention from the media on form rather than substance. The public seems to care more about comedic or accusatory exchanges than the details of the issues. Of course this is the same public that can’t wait for the next episode of Housewives from Wherever, The Biggest Loser and Jersey Shore. That’s ok.  All of the candidates claim to have plans that will fix the economy. Most have only rhetoric on how they will get Congress to act on their plans. It seems clear that Mitt Romney will survive late in the race. He looks presidential and he always appears to be in the top three in polling. Who joins him for a more concentrated comparison of differences is beyond me.  One thing is clear to all of the Republican candidates- our troubles are President Obama’s fault. The last election was won on the platform that everything was the last administration’s fault and we can’t have more of the same. President Obama claims that our continuing troubles are the fault of Congress, especially since the Republicans took the house in the midterm elections. It’s everyone else’s fault. All of these officials are supposed to solve, not point. The Democrats claim that the Republicans hate the poor and refuse to provide for them. The Republicans claim that the Democrats hate the rich and want to stunt job growth. Sadly, many people believe these preposterous notions. Both sides claim to be able to save the middle class. Funny, politicians from both sides have been claiming that they will help the middle class ever since I can remember. I guess no one has. The middle class must have the most votes. After all, isn’t that what it is all about? Getting votes? I wish it was about unifying to solve problems. Anyway, the primaries will provide good theater. I am looking forward to them.

                While the primaries heat up the political debate, whittling the field down to the champion that will carry the party’s flag, the NFL will be in the midst of its tournament to find its ultimate winner. The twelve contestants are being evaluated before they play a game. The pollsters in the race, the analysts and the fans, are predicting what is going to happen just as the political pollsters are ranking the primary contestants. Computers are simulating. People are betting. Las Vegas is in its glory. The coaches will praise their opponents before the games and fans of the underdogs will be watching marathons of Any Given Sunday and Hoosiers to raise their hopes before kickoff. Ratings will be huge. Advertisers will spend like crazy. There will be at least one upset, there always is. We will cheer and swear as fortunes change for our rooting interest. The 20 teams that didn’t make it are already making plans for next year. The twelve teams that are left still have hope. They all think they can win their next game whether they are favored or a long-shot. After the ultimate game is played, the winner need not do anything else. They are finished. They have achieved their goal. Unlike our elections, the playoffs are the ultimate test. For our November, 2012 elected President and Congress, the real game is just beginning. Anyway, I am looking forward to the NFL Playoffs and I am pulling for the biggest underdog.

                Meanwhile, Europe is wrestling with the economic problems plaguing members of their fairly recently formed union. We obviously have our own economic crisis here at home, but our union is more solid. We might complain that California’s economic woes will put an unfair burden on populations of solvent states, but our collective nationalism will tone down the outcry. How long will Germany be willing to bail out its neighbors? Will the Euro collapse and the old sovereign currencies resurface? How our economy is affected by the European mess is scary. Hopefully our financial institutions will be able to better predict the impact of the lingering European destabilization than they did the derivative collapse. The whole European Union concept looks like a bad idea. We are Americans with states. They are states with a union. It’s kind of like having a joint bank account with cousins from both sides of your family. Would you allow that kind of access to your money? I wouldn’t. Countries that have far outspent their revenues in order to continue down the path of extraordinary entitlements have their hands out to their better positioned neighbors. I’m sure cousin Mark will not fund cousin Lira's drug habit for long, if you know what I mean. We will do well to heed the problems in Europe. For generations, no matter the state of our economy, we could always take solace from the fact that an investment in U.S. securities was a zero risk gamble. We shrugged off S&P’s downgrade, but we are travelling in the wrong direction. The European Union enjoyed a great investment confidence as well, if only for a relatively short time. The ties that bind those countries are certainly not as strong as those that bind us, but their economic foibles are not so far removed from ours. I am looking forward to a lasting European economic solution, but I’m afraid that will be a lingering problem well past our Primary and Playoff seasons.

                It is early January. The three subjects above will be of great interest to me. One of the subjects is merely entertainment. I don’t think that is a bad ratio. My worry is that we are becoming more and more entertainment focused. Let us look to things that take our mind away from troubles. Like the NFL playoffs. More, importantly, let us focus more intently on how we evaluate our leaders and protect our future. Politicians need to succeed in action, not rhetoric. That is where the NFL gets it right. If a team does its job well, it wins.