et alli.

Too Soon?

Its no secret I support President Obama. His State of the Union address delivery and content was superior to any given by the three previous presidents. He has a knack, when given opportunity, of directly addressing his opponents with thoughtful responses to criticism He demonstrated this in the SOU and again Friday addressing questions from the Republican congressional caucus.

However when I read brief to the point analysis from people I respect like “Can Someone Please Tell Me How This Is Supposed to Be Good Policy?"   [ http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2010/01/can-someone-please-tell-me-how-this-is-supposed-to-be-good-policy.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BradDelongsSemi-dailyJournal+%28Brad+DeLong%27s+Semi-Daily+Journal%29&utm_content=Google+Reader] I am pessimistic about the economy of the US in the next five years  

If one accepts DeLong's premises about current likelihood of different outcomes for the economy, and I do, it seems that US domestic policy is withdrawing stimuli too rapidly and trying to address deficit problems too soon. Economic outcomes likely will shift away from “a 30% chance that the U.S. economy is about to start growing rapidly” or 'a 40% chance that we are about to start a recovery like or a little bit better than the "jobless recoveries" ' toward a more than 50% chance of a double dip recession. 

This morning's Der Spiegel has an interesting article – 'Hello Lenin' Berlin to Resurrect its Disgraced Monuments.  A massive sculpture of Lenin is the article's hook.  The Lenin bust will join in a special exhibit at Berlin's Spandau Citadel other shunned art works from Nazi and Prussian eras.

One of the Nazi monuments going on show will be sculptor Arno Breker's "Decathlete." Gerhard Hanke, the Spandau district councillor in charge of cultural affairs, said: "The exhibition will attract international attention."

Attention yes and it will range from Israeli horror to Stormfront  joy and somewhere in between my view which is certainly not horror or joy but something closer to pleasure that art can be liberated from the political context of its creation. I like Breker's work just as much as I like Picasso's. Their politics are irrelevant although Breker used his cosy relationship with Nazi clients/patrons to block Picasso's arrest in 1940's Paris.

'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all      Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.'