[NOTE: I’m breaking form and publishing order here because I felt this essay serves as a nice introduction to Pop’s thoughts on the Republican National Convention. This essay is almost exactly 1 year old; the message is still relevant. Hopefully this is not confusing. -Kevin]
Under ordinary circumstances, I am not involved with Republican politics.1 But the other night, there was a debate involving all of the Republican candidates for the Presidency. The question was asked as follows: If you were presented with a proposal to take 90% of spending cuts and only 10% in tax increases, how would you vote?
One brave Republican candidate instantly raised his hand and said that he would not accept the proposition and that he would always vote against tax increases. In a matter of moments, the remainder of the Republican candidates held up their hands and rejected the proposition as well. This is preposterous. The Republicans claim that they only want spending cuts and they do it to the derogation of small tax increases. But in this case, the instincts of the herd prevailed. When the first one or two raised his hand, the rest of them soon followed. I am not surprised at the instincts of the herd being accepted.
In my view, based upon my knowledge of the Second World War, people with large earnings paid at least 91% of their salaries in taxes.2 No one is suggesting that the incomes of the greatest earners of this country are going to be taxed at anything of the sort. But leaving out the question of whether the rich people will help the poor people, it seems to me that the instincts of the herd are being followed.
This is not unusual. During my high school years, I attended an affluent high school in Clayton, Missouri. It was attended largely by the offspring of the St. Louis professional class, doctors and lawyers who practiced in St. Louis and resided in Clayton. As one might imagine, a good many of the professional class were Jewish.
When classes resumed after Christmas vacation, the wealthy kids returned to school and often compared how well they did in terms of receiving gifts. I really do not know whether gifts are exchanged in Jewish families, but upon their return to school the Jewish kids would often show off their new wares also. For the better part of the time I attended high school in Clayton, Missouri in the late 1930s, cashmere sweaters were all the rage. But as soon as one child got a cashmere sweater, every other child would bug his parents until they bought him the same garment. Cashmere comes from a certain type of sheep and I assume that after Christmas the sheep were shorn bald. But the point in this exercise is that the other children in Clayton public schools simply followed the instincts of the herd.
Now as it happened, I was never able to afford, nor were my parents ever able to afford, a cashmere sweater. My best recollection is that I wore an old sweater that had been handed down from my elder brothers. But once again, the idea is not about cashmere sweaters so much as it is to tell you about the instincts of the herd.
In much later days in the 21st century, cashmere sweaters have been replaced by BMW automobiles. It seems to me that when one student gets a BMW, the instincts of the herd will soon provide that other students will also have a BMW as well. This is fine with me because I don’t drive or even ride in German automobiles. Clearly, the instincts of the herd apply to the students of the 21st century.
Now there is just one more thought that follows about the instinct of the herd. Because of the way that the world is configured, the Asian markets involving the trading of stocks open on the previous evening of the American trading day. If the Asian markets are down, you may rest assured that the European markets will also show a decline. Later, when the hour of 9:30 AM arrives in New York, American traders will say, “The Asian markets were down and the European markets were down, therefore we must also open at a lower rate.” Computer trading has made this tendency much more likely. But in any case the idea here is that the instinct of the Wall Street herd applies not only to BMW automobiles or cashmere sweaters but also to the trading of securities.
And so this essay about the instinct of the herd comes about because of a mistake that I made in watching a Republican debate. As a liberal Democrat or as we now call them a Progressive Democrat, I rarely watch developments in the Republican Party. But in the final analysis, it was instructive to have watched the hands in the air about the issue of ten to one spending cuts to tax increases. Upon further examination, I believe that this essay is the only benefit that has flowed from the Republican debate.
In the future, I will confine my attention to Mrs. Bachmann and to Rick Perry, who are engaged in a debate as to who is the maximum Christian. I believe that watching these two perform will produce varying shades of ribald laughter. Perry for example does not believe in the theory of evolution and Mrs. Bachmann has confused the date of Elvis Presley’s death with the anniversary of his birth. Boys, I will tell you this. You do not get better entertainment from any set of politicians.
E. E. CARR
August 25, 2011
Essay #???
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1. This seems like a lie. Having read all of 2012 and most of 2011, I reckon that somewhere in the neighborhood of 5-10% of Pop’s essays primarily concern Republican nominees for President. Lord knows how much he had to say about the Bush administration, but we’ll find out eventually — once we get far enough back in essays.
2. This, however, is true. Looks like the all-time high was 94% for some time during the war, but it stayed well above 90 for several years. Source.
I am kinda liking this whole “footnote Pop’s essays” style of commenting. I will have to see how he feels about it. Meanwhile I have decided that my mother should buy her dad a cashmere sweater if he still lacks one. I would volunteer, but the fact has not changed that those suckers are expensive.