A Reason to Riot

Tom Friedman has put his finger on a key reason for the underclass revolts occurring in Arabia, Britain, the U.S. and elsewhere this year.  They differ in format, but share some In a few words, here it is:

"There are multiple and different reasons for these explosions, but to the extent they might have a common denominator I think it can be found in one of the slogans of Israel’s middle-class uprising: “We are fighting for an accessible future.” Across the world, a lot of middle- and lower-middle-class people now feel that the “future” is out of their grasp, and they are letting their leaders know it."

 Read the rest of his column in today's New York Times by clicking on the link in the "Like Minds" column on the left of this screen.

Is the U.S. Hearing Voices?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/business/global/china-a-big-creditor-says-us-has-only-itself-to-blame.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha25

Already U.S. legislators are arguing that Standard and Poor doesn't have the depth or the right to downgrade the nation's vaunted credit rating.  Washington's high-lifers have proven their inability to listen to each other time and again since President Obama put the medicare issue on the table.  Now they want to deny the obvious consequence of their inability to agree on anything important except another declaration of war.  Nobody is ready to invest the same level of trust in America that has driven its economic juggernaut since the Second World War.  At least they didn't start that one, so maybe they were entitled to benefit from some of the socio-industrial fallout that it generated. Now even -- and maybe especially -- their own voters are fed up.

China, the U.S.'s largest creditor, has weighed in with some harsh words about America's addiction to debt.  The Chinese should know, since they hold more than a trillion dollars of it.  Undiplomatic as their message may have been, the Chinese seem to be learning that the only way to be heard in America's bellicose political culture is to shout.  If so, this is going in the wrong direction, for the escalation of rhetoric between superpowers can have only one likely outcome.