The Democrats are gathered in Charlotte for the quadrennial circle jerk in which they deliver bombastic speeches and anoint their presidential nominee. Last week, the Republicans did the same in Tampa. These respective echo chambers inevitably lead to an increase in the type of one-sided political babble that is entertaining to listen to but depressing to think very hard about.
Mark Cuban, for one, is sick of it. He said so in a post this morning, in which he answers the question that will be repeated ad nauseum between now and November: "Are we better off than we were four years ago?"
Four years ago we were worried about whether or not our financial system would fail. We were worried about whether the auto industry would fail. We were worried about whether or not housing would drop to zero and we were concerned with whether or not it would ever come back. We were concerned with what the bottom in job losses would be and whether or not there even was a bottom.Four years ago we were looking around and describing our situation as "The Great Recession". Just the fact that we are no longer saying "We are in the midst of a Great Recession" by definition means that as a country we are better off financially and psychologically than we were 4 years ago. Can we please put that slogan to bed already ?
We should instead be asking about what comes next, he says. But alas, that requires specifics, and specifics so often run longer than 140 characters.
"I only wish that candidates were held to the same standards of fact that CEO's of public companies are," Cuban writes. "If CEOs were as vague, fast and loose with the facts as our candidates are, they would be in big trouble. How sad is it that our Presidential candidates are not required to hold the same levels of fact as our corporate leaders are."
