Put it this way: if by some freak of circumstances the last two people in the United States eligible to be president were Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago and Jimmy Carter in hospice, Jimmy Carter would still be the wiser choice for the country. No contest.
I’m not saying this facetiously or ironically, or even as an underhanded slam against the Carter years. Those years had their problems, as any years do: there’s never been a golden age in America and never will be (there’s no making America great again, as it has yet to be: there’s only making it better). But Carter wasn’t nearly the disastrous president that Ronald Reagan’s fantasyland made him out to be. And anyway Carter isn’t the issue. Trump is. The country would be better off led by any sentient human being with a sense of morals and values than by Trump, making the questions about Joe Biden’s competence, at least in comparison with Trump, laughable.
In a healthier, less fearful and rotting society than ours, we would not be facing a presidential race featuring two men whose 160 years between them makes them more than half as old as the Republic. Men were still fighting World War II when these two were born. If men this old are the best that a country of 330 million people can do, then we have more grave problems than we know.
At 81, Biden’s age shows itself every day. He’s an old 81. He’s shaky. He lacks energy. He’s got memory issues. He’s uninspiring. He’s often embarrassing. He’s putting his own self-importance ahead of the good of the country. If this is ageism, so be it. We tend to put too much stock in old people in this country, buying into the myth that age equals wisdom. Age equals narrower arteries and narrower minds. I’ll take a 16-year-old’s judgment in the voting booth over that of a 75 year old any day. Unfortunately, we’re suffering the tantrums of the boomer generation as its age and eternal self-indulgence shape our politics left and right. It doesn’t bode well, and this Biden-Trump rerun of relics is Exhibit A.
Biden claims he alone can beat Trump, since he already has. It’s the kind of delusional logic that took Napoleon from Austerlitz to Waterloo, or Moscow: Biden’s handlers are already treating him the way the Kremlin handled Brezhnev in the late 70s. He fears news conferences and even sit-down interviews with serious journalists. He fears the present and the immediate. He makes us feel as if he fears his shadow.
So his handlers hide him and make shit up about him, parroting the same talking points about how he’s so sharp, so engaged, so focused, so tireless behind the scenes. Lies as blatant as those Edith Wilson concocted about her husband as he lay dying in the White House after his 1919 stroke, and that Wilson’s cabinet, whose members barely saw him after that, abetted with a year’s worth of fake news in one of the most shameless conspiracies in the nation’s history. Biden isn’t stroked out, but the cocoon and fake news isn’t much different.
He should have declared himself a one-term president, in office to clean up the Trump catastrophe, then made way for a younger generation. His ego got in the way, not without good reason. By any measure, he has had a very successful presidency. By the time he’s done, more jobs will have been in his one term than by any president, including two-term presidents like Ronald Reagan. The exception is Clinton.
He signed a juggernaut of legislation that at one point made him as productive as LBJ, restored American dignity, and has run a scandal-free administration, which can’t be said of Trump. (Contra Fox, OAN and Newsmax congregations, Hunter Biden is not a member of the administration.) If we have to blame Biden for inflation, then we have to blame him for Europe’s and Asia’s, too. He’s not that powerful. Biden’s foreign policy has been solid, his defense of Ukraine well calibrated if ultimately undermined by his indefensible complicity with Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Some of his reasons for clinging to power can’t be downplayed. The Democratic bench is pitiful. It would make sense if this was 1972, when the Democrats’ best and brightest had either been assassinated or had shot themselves in the foot, leaving the likes of Nixon and Kissinger to do to Democrats what they did to Cambodia. But this isn’t 1972. Democrats have been spared untimely deaths or even, the unnecessary departure of Al Franken aside, scandalous resignations for two generations. They should be brimming with leadership. (I don’t mean Kamala Harris out-Pencing Pence in the vice-presidency). Instead they look disorganized, disunited and bankrupt, the moderates among them as foreign to their party as moderate Republicans are in the GOP.
So like his polls, Biden isn’t going anywhere. All seems lost. It doesn’t have to be.
Recall the winter of 2008 when Barack Obama’s candidacy risked oblivion. Reactionaries were doing what they always do, finding a racist deck of cards and pulling every one, among them the spiritual and political mentoring Obama had received from the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Nothing Wright had sermonized about was wrong. But America prefers its truths pre-chewed, sugared up and emulsified into bumper-sticker myths. Wright’s truths were as raw as a beating by sugarcanes. In one of the greatest speeches of his life, Obama condemned and praised Wright at the same time but delivered in his “More Perfect Union” speech a fatal blow to those who would still use the old Nixon-Reagan-Bush whistles about race to silence his story, “a story that hasn’t made me the most conventional of candidates,” as Obama put it.
Biden needs a Philadelphia moment. He can certainly deliver it. He needs to go before the nation and say the obvious: I am old. I have lost a step or five. I am not on top of everything. But what president ever has been, ever needs to be, when he surrounds himself with the right cabinet and staff? I mix up Mexico’s president with Gaza and thought the other day that Mitterand was still around. Big deal: Ronald Reagan even before his election thought he was among the Americans liberating the death camps and made up stories about welfare queens. At least my errors are in the right place.
My geography and obituaries are a bit off. My morals and priorities aren’t. I’m an aging president in an aging nation, but age is not defeat. Benjamin Franklin was my age when, at the end of the Constitutional Convention in this city, he answered Elizabeth Willing Powell’s question about what government was crafted: “A republic, if you can keep it,” Franklin told her. This is our challenge: keeping it. This is my challenge to you. This is why we’re doing what we’re doing.
Or something like that.
It’s unfortunate that Biden isn’t running on his record. Instead, he’s running on what a disaster Trump would be. That’s not enough, even though it’s true. And it’s not nothing. Trump is a convicted rapist and a slanderer who faces 91 criminal charges. He’s a white supremacist putting us through what Jeff Sharlet calls “the stress test of fascism.” He runs a family as corrupt as his business, building it on a mountain of lies and nepotism, a Hunter Biden in every dandruff. He glorifies violence and retribution and would pick up as president where the January 6 insurrection left off, hanging noose included. He did not govern in his first term. He’s not about to start now.
As for his mental acuity, it is far worse than Biden’s. Trump is a different kind of senile, the psychopathic kind intensified by a narcissism so acute that he lost a grasp of reality long before he became president the first time. Not only is he not fit to be president, as we learned in four years of political agony and social calamity. He belongs in a prison with mental health services and handy straitjackets.
So yes. Biden is old. He’s slow. He’s forgetful. He trips all over the place, he’s in hiding, and the Democratic Party is a pitiful band of backbenchers who couldn’t give us a more convincing alternative. For all that, compared to Trump he’s still the only credible choice, if it’s a republic we still want.
Pierre Tristam is the editor of FlaglerLive. A version of this piece airs on WNZF.
jake says
Another term with Biden will be the death of America.
Bill C says
Interesting how MAGA cultists take advantage of this “woke” liberal site to vent their animosity for liberal thinkers, yet their views are printed on this site without censorship. They benefit from the very thing they are against- liberalism.
Suzie says
Are you enjoying the higher prices of everything? I make more now with a pay raise, yet take home less than under Trump. Food costs have gone up to ridiculous amounts; many items are double the price before. Gas is higher. The country is a hot mess right now and we are our security is at higher risk than ever. We need a strong leader and Trump has proven that in the past. We were safer under him and had more money in our pockets.
Laurel says
Hey, if you like Putin, try out Russia.
Bill C says
Your view has not been censored. Don’t you value free speech? Trump wrote in a Truth Social post in December 2022 that he would allow “for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”
Former Wisconsin state Republican Chairman Andrew Hitt said “The Wisconsin electors were tricked and misled into participating in what became the alternate elector scheme.”
He has just been convicted of sex abuse and defamation by a jury. (You know “just grab ’em by the pussy” and all that.) He was just found guilty of massive fraud in his business dealings.
Don’t you believe in the Constitution and the justice system it enshrines? Or would you trade it in for the unproven assertion that gas and food prices would be lower if Trump were in power? The economy crashed during Trump’s term in office. Also, Trump called Putin a “genius” and Russia should do whatever they want in Ukraine, a country on the front lines of defending democracy in Europe.
One point of agreement. As you say: “our security is at higher risk than ever”.
The risk is from Trump.
David S says
I would not vote for the most disgusting POS in America Trump period
Sad says
Pierre, because of deceived people like you, I believe we as a country are in trouble. You and I have no middle ground. I see you and everything you stand for as pure evil and you seem to think that those of us who want to make America great again are your enemies. The words you speak are so sadly decisive and you are blind. It is truly sad.
TR says
Well said Sad.
Deborah Coffey says
But, it is not pure evil to rip babies from their mothers’ breasts at the southern border and ship them to God knows where across the United States. It is not pure evil to rape a woman in a department store dressing room. It is not pure evil to cause an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol…causing at least 5 deaths, threatening to hang the Vice President, and beating police officers so badly that they can no longer work. It is not pure evil for the POTUS to tell 30,573 lies to the American public over 4 years. It is not pure evil to pay a porn star a bribe in order to win an election. It is not pure evil to call Republicans in swing states begging for additional fake votes in order to overturn an election. It is not pure evil to rob citizens of hundreds of millions of dollars by falsifying business reports and lying on your taxes. It is not pure evil to exchange love letters with Kim Jong Un and to kiss Vladimir Putin’s butt.
If you think THIS will make America great again, you ARE an enemy and, you’ve got a hilarious definition of evil.
Bryan says
Deborah, Some feel it’s evil to suck a baby out of a woman’s uterus with a vacuum cleaner. Keeping a baby alive, healthy and safe from trafficking at the border should be ok.
People involved in an insurection are usually heavily armed…….
Taking everything a blowhard says seriously……..Priceless
read some book don't burn em says
ahh yes. One was a peanut farmer who became president by himself and another was silver-spooned and given a million-dollar loan from his father. They don’t even remotely compare. One is the spitting image of the American dream and the other is the American disgrace.
ken says
come on a peanut farmer isn’t that bad !!LMAO AT THIS !!just sayin !!
Joe D says
WELL…..
An interesting and round about way of hinting, that even with Biden’s age and limitations, due to his positive MORAL substance, political EXPERIENCE and wanting the BEST for the REPUBLIC developed in 1776 by MOSTLY “OLD WHITE MEN,” BIDEN is the LESSER of two EVILS!?!
YIKES…..
…..but I do have to say, after reading the contents of this OPINION, I have to AGREE with the author….BIDEN DEFINITELY is the LESSER of two “EVILS,” when compared to another DISASTROUS 4 years with Donald Trump.
Of course the ONLY positive thing about another 4 years of a Trump administration…it would have to be his LAST ( with a 2 term limit)….but I’m also concerned what will be LEFT of our Country, Democracy and WORLD ORDER by 2028, if TRUMP won.
GOD HELP US!
Jaii says
Agree
Laurel says
I was raised by a woman who did not have a prejudiced bone in her body, so I always stuck up for the people I thought were treated unfairly. It’s disappointing that after so many years, my husband, friends and I are the now targets of prejudice.
My husband is one of the kindest people I have ever known. He buys people surprise meals, he volunteers to help others out, he tries to help people with ideas AND actions. Yet, he, and others like him, are labeled “selfish” by those who do not know them. We are the people who are labeled responsible for those who refuse to take responsibility for their own situations. We are the blame target for those who believe they are worse off than they really are.
This is not about politics, it is purely about age. Trump may be a crook, a con, a sex predator and a mentally unhealthy person, but Biden is old. What a tragedy for our country, to be old. Biden has a job that turns young men’s hair grey; we have seen it often. He has navigated it for decades and has a better handle on it than most people. By the way, should he become incapacitated, there is a black woman who would take charge for whatever term is left. That’s just another tragedy, right?
So just keep whining, and teaching your children how horrible and useless old age is. Your day will come, if you’re lucky. And after working from age 16 to 60, often working in jobs I didn’t like for people I didn’t like, and still showing up each day, you can bet your ass, Pierre, that I am going to do what I can to enjoy my last years!
The Geode says
Maybe your mom didn’t have a “prejudiced bone in her body” but clearly you do. You think by saying that we’d think of you as altruistic? No. People with a need to clarify themselves recognize that others can’t see it unless they say it (and we still can’t “see it”. I am also in need some clarification as to HOW you were prejudiced against. I am black. I can give you specifics as to how I was discriminated against and still brushed it off and became self-sufficient. Old age is old age so the first part of your comment befuddled the hell out of me. Reading it again confused me even more, so I I’m afraid to read it again fearing the few remaining brain cells I have left will leak down my esophagus
Laurel says
Geode: Looks like we have something in common because I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about either.
I did not claim to be altruistic, but my husband certainly is.
The prejudiced I’m talking about is ageism, that Republicans have successfully convinced Democrats that Biden is old, and Trump isn’t. That, and the disdain young people today have towards seniors, who are supposedly, intentionally making young lives worse, which is bullshit.
You announced you are black. Congratulations! I’m a mix of pink/yellow with brown freckles. Your point being? Do you mean because you are black, that only blacks experience discrimination? Would sexual harassment, less pay, less opportunity, less job promotions for women count at all? I experienced that and more and also became self sufficient.
So, hang onto the few brain cells you claim to still have and don’t choke.
I call BS says
What a one-sided bunch of crap, Pierre. You are obviously roiling in your hate of Donald Trump, and are blinded by it. We will be lucky to not have World War III before Biden is done, if we are not attacked from within first by some of the tens of millions that have been allowed to illegal infiltrate our great (yes, GREAT) Country.
Pierre Tristam says
Those migrants, illegals included, are among those we should be thanking for whatever portion of “great” we can still claim. As for the enemy within, you should probably be more worried about your whitebred militias chomping at the bit to pick up where Jan. 6 left off: that danger is richly documented down to their fancy for kidnapping governors. The danger from those undocumented brown skins you dehumanize is not. But this is fantasyland, so Trumpism thrives.
palmcoaster says
Well said Pierre. As for myself will never vote for an insurrectionist, totalitarian, rapist, traitor, fraudster and liar! Rather preserve in the WH an aged, experienced compassionate man that will secure the permanence of our Democratic Republic and our freedom that our soldiers make the supreme sacrifice to defend!
Kris says
It seems none of you will ever realize it’s not Trump and his supporters vs Biden/Democrats and theirs or Red vs Blue; it’s us versus them. And until people start to realize that we will be in this never ending tug of war stretching morality, ethics, and humanity so thin it’ll be more unrecognizable than it is today. We are sent off to die on foreign land for politicians and officials, protecting not the U.S. but THEIR wallets. None of them care about you or anyone else, none of them run for presidency or office hoping to “help” you. We send hundreds of billions to other countries while our own people starve, sleep in the rain, veterans tossed to the curb used and forgotten. Our food is poisoned, our water is contaminated, and our hearts hardened. We’ve turned on family and friends because of political differences. We’ve forgotten all about the pedophiles who’ve infiltrated our congress, our White House, our families and instead choose to argue about the irrelevant sociopolitical issues that satisfy our own personal biases, emphasize our “morality”, boost our pride, and glitter our egos. Why do any of you bother to talk to each other if it’s deluded to belittlement and condescension? Whether you agree with what happened on January 6th or not; it SCARED every politician and official so much so they called it an insurrection (would be the first unarmed insurrection in history mind you). The roles have been so blatantly reversed, they are not for the people, we are for them. Again, we shun our own blood FOR THEM. Divided we fall, Pierre. Wake up.
Research Corexit/BP, COVID patient zero Wuhan and the failed inspections, weed killer in foods, WWII-Vietnam-Cold War weaponization of the media for profitable war, NATO and its original purpose (unnecessary for modern times), prescription drug trials and their profound lack of ethics, social medias direct government backing, defective KGB operative Yuri Bezmenov, and every declassified psychological operation and experiment against “We The People” and tell me you still support any politician or government official. Bill Clinton was on the Epstein list and we still give Hillary airtime? Mental health has vastly declined, physical health as well, shamed on top of it. Somethings wrong, we all know it, and deep down, we all know why.
Concerned in PC says
Kris- I agree, it is good versus evil, not Red vs. Blue. Citizens need to wake up, stand up, and speak up before our freedoms are gone and our Country destroyed.
Mona says
Yes!
Bryan says
The “GREAT” you mention includes our enforcement of all of our LAWS….. including immigration laws.
I would bet there are many more migrants with nefarious intentions here than are “white bred militias”, as you call them. Was that a racist comment by this outstanding publication?
Pierre Tristam says
You would lose that bet. Cato Institute analyzed immigrant versus native criminal conviction rates in 2018 in Texas. Natives had a rate twice as high as undocumented immigrants, and almost three times as high as documented immigrants. Specifically: “In 2018, the illegal immigrant criminal conviction rate was 782 per 100,000 illegal immigrants, 535 per 100,000 legal immigrants, and 1,422 per 100,000 native‐born Americans. The illegal immigrant criminal conviction rate was 45 percent below that of native‐born Americans in Texas.” As for your last line: you can certainly argue that we should be more polite and not call white supremacist militias whitebred. I prefer not to be so polite regarding racists and fascists with guns.
That guy says
I’m
Excited to see Pierre get deported in the next Trump term.
Laurel says
That guy: I’m excited to see Trump in prison!
Bryan says
Pierre, Your numbers are from 5 years ago? I am talking about the past two or three when, counting gotaways, millions have been let in unvetted bringing in drugs that kill our youth and more. Scum who traffic in humans? Mexican cartels are running the show. Doesn’t that bother anyone? If we already have so many “native criminal convictions”, why bring in more when all we have to do is enforce the laws on our books until changes can be made to satisfy the supposed bleeding hearts. That’s democracy, we are a nation of laws, right?
Steve says
Fear mongering with out evidence is just another maga useless tactic. Trump is a loser and you will lose with him BIGLY
Nephew Of Uncle Sam says
Orange 45 is no spring chicken either, already feeble minded. I’ll stick with Democracy over Fascism any day.
Mona says
Yes, me too. By the way, why we never hear, that Trump is old?
Samuel says
VOTE SMART VOTE BLUE.
Just the Facts Ma'am says
Samuel- Voting for Biden is not SMART, and if you think it is, I am sorry for your loss. The man is an angry, corrupt, child sniffing pedophile who needs to change his Depend and take a nap, not run for President of the United States. It is elder abuse and an embarrassment to Our Great Nation.
Steve says
BIG BLUE Tsunami November 24
Steve says
Losing has become the norm for trmpsters
Laurel says
Just the facts ma’am: And just where are those “facts?”
Al says
You want Carter, hell you can’t handle 9% inflation try 12 during Jimmy. Honr mortgage unaffordable at 7%, try 11%. Jimmy was a disaster just like Joe. Good luck if he gets re-elected then the people I know will take all we can get and screw the rest just like a good liberal does.
At 70 I have little future left, maybe 20 years. You’ll have to suffer way longer than I. My wife, myself, and my children are well off . If the country wants to destroy its future have at it, you’re family can die in the next war not mine.
The Geode says
“Locks are for honest people”. I say this because you seem to think when “you’re gone. your kids are well off”. What is that supposed to mean? If this nation crumbles, your kids will be digging scraps among the poor who would already be acclimated to “digging for scraps”. Who’s going to win that fight? You think the “next war” is going to be fought somewhere else so your children can hide? It will be in their back yards and coming through their front doors. At 70, you indeed have one foot in the grave and one on a banana peel but odds are you’ll be here to witness it yourself because it’s right around the corner…
timothy pennington says
You want Jimmy Carter. I’m a vet who was drafted during the Vietnam War, I served, others went to Canada and hid out, Your great President Jimmy Carter pardan them and they came back to the USA heros. Remember the cubans that Jimmy Carter let Castro ship into America. Ask Miami about that Take a look at Iran today. Jimmy Carter and Brazenski got rid of the Shah and gave us radical Komeni who took prisoners who Ronald Reagan helped free, Remember the long gas lines. You could only buy gas on certain days and only $10 worth. According to that dumb A, we were running out of oil. How we ever survived that stupid A is a miracle, you can take a look at Dems today and beware {climate change} John Kerry. Trust these people ? Wake up.
beachcomberT says
I was hoping your column would propose a way that Democrat insiders could settle on consensus replacement for Biden and a graceful way he could exit. You leave many of with us with no alternative except to vote for a third party and hope that the election is close enough to be be thrown into the House.
Nephew Of Uncle Sam says
How do you think that would turn out with the cult in charge and their orange messiah calling the shots.
Laurel says
beachcomerT: And that’s exactly what I mean when I stated the Trumpsters have successfully convinced the Democrats that Biden is old and Trump is not. Voting for a third party now would be a massive mistake. Vote for Biden now, save democracy, and worry about the age crap later when Trump is out of the picture (and hopefully in prison).
Jim says
Agree. (I wish there were thumbs up or down icons on these things… It would make it easier to get a pulse on the community. One would think that it was mostly moderates and left of center folks reading FlaglerLive, but it appears not from some of the other comments…)
I Just Love Flagler Beach says
Geez, you had my head spinning between “He’s shaky. He lacks energy. He’s got memory issues. He’s uninspiring. He’s often embarrassing. He’s putting his own self-importance ahead of the good of the country ” and “By any measure, he has had a very successful presidency”. You covered a lot of territory including I’ll take a 16-year-old’s judgment in the voting booth over that of a 75 year old any day. Now I admit to being a boomer and I certainly will take a 75 year old voter over a 16 year old staring into their phone and wreaking of overactive hormones. If you could even get them to vote. My take on Biden is, he’s the coach. We don’t need him to throw the football or run it in for a TD. But he has the experience and yes, that wisdom that comes with age. We should be grateful, not condescending and derogatory.
Laurel says
I Just Love Flagler Beach: Perfect, thank you! What Pierre also left out is that the human brain is not fully formed until around the age of 24.
Also, 2/3 of people over the age of 85 do NOT have dementia. Source: CBS Sunday Morning segment (last Sunday’s episode).
So, in my opinion, all this hardwired age bigotry is no different from MAGA mentality. Hardwired and impenetrable.
Jim says
Re: Sad and Jake’s comments
Pierre, you have laid it out clearly. It’s “Sad” that Sad and Jake can only say that Biden will be “death to America” and Jake sees everything as evil. Neither can present any reasonable concrete rebuttal, because there is none. The only thing MAGA Trumpers can come up with is a crisis at the border which they refuse to do anything about since it is there entire platform. You could add the Hunter issues, and go back to Hillary bashing… They cannot explain how more jobs and a good economy are the death of America or evil. They cannot defend the many deficiencies you have presented about Trump. They can’t defend his abandonment of NATO and our allies.
It is true that Biden should’ve stepped aside for a younger candidate. There are a number of others who could take on the MAGA Trumpers–Newsome, Michelle, Jeffries, Schiff, Raskin, Nadler, Blinken, Garland, among others. Not to mention many moderate intelligent entertainers–it is a popularity contest, and Reagan, Trump, and Zelensky attest that you don’t even need a political background. Hanks, DiCaprio, Swift?
Laurel says
I’d rather see Trump step aside, but he won’t as he wants to be King, and will place Prince Don Jr. next to the throne.
Steve says
Losing has become the norm for trmpsters
Atwp says
Pierre, I love the title of the story. Great job.
Thomas Hutson says
Jimmy Carter
Pierre, I have to admit that I enjoy reading your Op-Eds and agree with many items you discuss. However, this is not one of them. You start out making a lot of great points regarding both parties using historical events to make your point. Then you went off script. I can only guess why, maybe because you watched too much “LOGAN’S RUN.”
In my reflection of this article, two of your statements of the many that really stood out; one was “I’ll take a 16-year-old’s judgment in the voting booth over that of a 75 year old any day.” Well, Pierre, what is your age for us old boomers with narrower arteries and narrower minds? It must surely include the “Holy Nine” sitting on the US Supreme Court. I am sure there are many, many, many old boomers like myself that take offense to this narrow view you have of us.
The last observation that really fell short is your using Former President Jimmy Carter as your example of what a President should be. Really Pierre? The only thing the Carter years were famous for was his brother’s “BILLY BEER” for us old boomers that can remember. Almost forgot to mention or include “Boarder and Immigration”, what about the “BOAT PEOPLE” and Fidel Castro”, American’s held hostage in Iran, not important. I will give President Carter credit for the ceasefire in the Middle East. Don’t get me wrong President Carter and Rosalyn Carter did great things out of office no question, just not as much while in office.
Just to set the record straight I am an N.P.A. by choice, I admit I voted for both of these current party candidates, one in 2016, the other in 2020 mistake both times. Today, neither one of these candidates represent me, neither will Kennedy, Haley, or Baby Mussolini DeSantis.
America is truly in trouble, not a decent candidate among either party at this time!
Land of no turn signals says says
Believe that it was closer to 18% interest rate on home loans.Once again good old Pierre is delusional.
Ray W. says
Factually, the time of 18% mortgage interest rates occurred during the first Reagan term of office. This was near the end of a somewhat longer than 15-year term of inflation that was called then and now “stagflation.” The period began during the Johnson administration and ended a few years into the Reagan one.
My first home, purchased in 1983 or early 1984 had a 13% interest rate. The loan officer offered his opinion as I was signing the various documents that he did not think we would ever see single digit inflation rates again.
Land of no turn signals appears to place most or all of the blame for high mortgage interest rates on one president, Carter, when runaway inflation occurred off and on during the terms of five successive presidents. Please try to exercise intellectual rigor before you comment, Land of no turn signals; it can make all the difference. I am not saying you are completely wrong. Inflation ran out of control during the Carter years, just not at 18%.
It is difficult to win an argument whenever a commenter starts with a losing point. Yours can never be characterized as a good comment. Had you pointed out that the time of 18% mortgage interest rates had actually occurred during the Reagan years, it would have been an accurate comment. You didn’t. The best you can hope for is that your argument is less bad than the worst one linked to this opinion column. Even if your comment about interest rates was factually accurate, that point would never prove that Mr. Tristam is delusional. Other points might offer more strength to that argument, but not the one you raised. I, too, have to guard against what should obvious to us all, that the most difficult thing in life is to one fool oneself.
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
I commend you for saying many of the quiet things out loud. I don’t agree with you regarding biden’s successes and I’m not interested in voting for the lesser evil.
Marlee says
Pierre…Please read the report from the American Psychological Assoc
How Ageism Harms
The negative view of late life isn’t just false. It’s also dangerous. “The narrative that age is decline, age is burden, hurts everyone: individuals, families, communities, and society,” said Nancy Morrow-Howell, PhD, a professor of social policy and expert in gerontology at Washington University in St. Louis. “Some older adults do need support, but mostly they’re giving it,” she added. “They make important contributions to the workforce, including paid work as well as volunteering and caregiving. Those contributions to society are a resource, not a luxury.”
Steve says
Did you get your Gold Shoes yet. What’s trump going to sell next insurance
Charles says
So true. If you want to live in a Communistic country move to Russia but please don’t vote for Donald Trump because that is what he is going to do to the USA turn it into a Communistic Country, ruled by Putin.
What Else Is New says
Pierre’s brilliance is conveyed here, yet I am in disagreement with the obvious ageism. Though old by numbers, I don’t feel old, or lack daring to be venturous, nor forgetful of important facts and events. There are tons of active, viable individuals who are of those the age of 80 and above. Perhaps readers should listen to President Biden’s several speeches given in the last few months. Though Pierre is correct in describing t, acknowledging President Biden’s successes, the reality is our country will be fine when President Biden is elected in November.
I call BS says
What Else Is New- You are joking, right? You cannot possibly be serious about “Biden”s successes” or actually voting for that hot mess who can barely complete a sentence let alone run a Country!
Steve says
BIDEN HARRIS 2024 JUST KEEP WINNING
Laurel says
I call: So you are just sticking to Fox Entertainment, Newsmax and the like, right? I must say, I’m a bit shocked at how uninterested Trumpers are in what President Biden actually does. His work simply doesn’t fit their preferred narrative.
Billy says
Wow! this internet newspaper has gone completely off the rails! This is the kind of printing that’s in an insane asylum!
Steve says
What exactly is it that made you think the article was Off the Rails
Laurel says
Billy: You know first hand what “…kind of printing that’s in an insane asylum!”? Interesting!
Pierre Tristam says
A clarification on age: for those of us lucky enough to get old, of course it’s up to us to make of it what we will–up to a point: I can have all the will in the world to keep going at 60 or 70 with the verve of a 30 year old. It simply won’t happen. OK. So we adapt, we make age work for us, and still can continue to lead wonderfully rich and impactful lives. But again: up to a point. We cannot control our weakening memories, which most of us will experience. We cannot control our diminishing sharpness, or diminished abilities to concentrate, the natural decline that happens with our creative abilities, if we even had them to start with (Hemingway couldn’t stand it: he was just 61 when he blew his brains out). We certainly cannot control our physical limitations, which most of us will experience. And all that is before the inevitable ravages of infirmities most of us will experience the more we age. As Philip Roth put it, “Old age isn’t a battle, old age is a massacre.” Congratulations to the survivors, and more power to you. We all hope for the same. But let’s not be so smug about the luck of the draw.
Laurel says
Old age is not for sissies, that is certainly true. But when it comes to “decline,” I will refer to my doctor’s opinion, and not yours.
Thomas Hutson says
Pierre Clarification
Pierre why are you trying to retreat from that ridiculous statement, “I’ll take a 16-year old’s judgment in the voting booth over that of a 75 year old any day “? Your response to the question “WHAT AGE?” is your age for us old boomers? Kinda left the answer out. What year do you want to “PUT US Old Boomers out to pasture” let’s see, maybe 30, or 55, or 65 maybe give us a useless test of some type? Why not just admit you made a MISTAKE about age. There are a lot of very frail elderly Americans that have minds of genius, they may not be in the best physical shape but I’ll take them over a 16 year-old any day. Final question for you, Pierre, YOU Really, think that poorly of our judgments?
Pierre Tristam says
No retreat Thomas, I think we should be like Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Ecuador and Greece, where 16 year olds may vote. And judging by the voting blocs significantly responsible for the elections of such catastrophic and/or corrupt and/or criminal presidents as Reagan (still the record-holder for most administration members indicted or convicted, though he himself somehow escaped impeachment for Iran-Contra and his fondness for trading American lives for weapons to Iran and those Nicaraguan terrorists known as Contras), the second Bush and the first Trump, yes, I do think poorly of that demographic’s judgment, at least in those historic terms.
Laurel says
This particular individual, and friends, of the “demographic” you refer to, did not vote for any of the candidates you mentioned. Yet, you “…think poorly of that demographic’s judgement…” so we are all bundled together, we all think alike, we all look alike, and we are all uninteresting, we are all useless, we are all selfish, and we all have diminished mental capacities. Try switching out some other “demographic” title with something like “Blacks,” “Women,” or maybe “Jews” and see how it sounds to you then. They all don’t think alike or look alike now, do they?
I Just Love Flagler Beach says
Sorry Pierre, I agree with you most of the time, but I have to call your ageism defense BS. And, Hemingway suffered from lifelong depression and mental illness and had a family history of suicides. Not to mention his alcoholism. So please don’t suggest normal aging did him in. Old age is challenging, but so are many stages of our lives. I have found that a lot of people are at their best as they get older. Physical decline does not necessarily equal mental decline.
Laurel says
I just love:
There have been several suicides in the Hemingway family. This includes his father, who killed himself when Ernest was only 29, three of his siblings (Ernest Jr., Ursula, and Leicester), and his granddaughter, Margaux. Margaux, who was a famous model, took her own life by overdosing on barbiturates. Mariel Hemingway describes her family as extremely creative — but victims to mental health problems and addiction.
“”I grew up watching a family that was completely amazing and creative but also destructive and self medicating. All of them, they were addicts. I didn’t want to end up like that. I was on a mission,””
-Mariel Hemingway per the Miami Herald, as printed by Distractify.com
Ray W. says
As a follow up, the Tax Foundation has published its calculation of Tax Freedom Day for roughly 100 years. I went to Wikipedia, which claims to use Tax Foundation records for its information.
In 1970, the date was April 19th.
In 2024, the date is projected as April 18th.
In 2000, the date was May 1st. 2000 was a very strong economic year.
In 2010, the date was April 9th. 2010 was a very weak economic year.
Little has changed in the overall American tax burden in the last 54 years. But the vast majority of boomers fervently argue that taxation has significantly increased during their lifetime. Some of them argue that Democrats have ruined America, based on this flawed belief. Is this a form of mass delusion? When overall taxation is compared to constantly rising GDP (the formula used for 100 years), we are taxed at about the same rate today as we were 54 years ago.
Laurel says
Ray W.: “Is this a form of mass delusion?” Seems to me that the tax cuts have been championed by the Republican Party, mainly for the rich. Is no one picking up the tab?