Oh, Grow Up A Must-Read from John Mauldin September 7, 2009March 16, 2017 THE PRESIDENT IS SPEAKING – COVER THEIR EARS! Some citizens are upset that the President of the United States will be speaking to the nation’s children tomorrow with the message, “study hard, stay in school.” Really? Would they also want to keep their kids from hearing the Surgeon General urge them not to smoke? Even as these patriotic parents try to protect their kids from the President of the United States, it should be noted that Presidents Reagan and Bush 41 also addressed the nation’s schoolchildren. (Yes, but – in the words of one well-intentioned if spelling-challenged observer – “BUSH and REGAN WERE NOT SOCIALIST.”) Ron Jarrett: “As silliness on the right grows to new heights, I would remind you of these words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: ‘Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.’ ” THE PRESIDENT’S POPULARITY James Musters: “From a blog called They Gave Us A Republic: ‘One of the many ways [the press] misrepresents the popularity of liberal policies in this country is by generalizing poll results. Any ‘disapproval’ of President Obama is assumed to be of his supposed leftists tendencies and coming from the right and center. But now somebody has finally looked at the cross-tab detail and discovered – surprise! – the disapproval is coming from the left, and what they don’t like is his dancing to the [Republican] tune on health care reform.’ ” Okay . . . that’s enough for a holiday Monday – it’s Labor Day! Go outside! Enjoy! But for the agoraphobics in the crowd, here’s more (which I plan to leave up as tomorrow’s column as well, because I do plan to go outside). AL FRANKEN ON HEALTH INSURANCE AT THE STATE FAIR I’m proud of this guy. Watch. HEALTH David Brooks – in his column Friday praising the David Goldhill Atlantic piece linked to here last month (“How American Health Care Killed My Father”) – recommends this just-released and important bi-partisan set of recommendations from the Brookings Institution, “Bending the Curve: Effective Steps to Address Long-Term Health Care Spending Growth.” OH, GROW UP If you don’t understand how our behavior of the last 35 years or so has led us to this pass – or what this pass is – don’t miss John Mauldin’s clear and very human explanation. We are not remotely out of the woods yet. To which I would add: Study hard, stay in school, spend less than you earn, love thy neighbor, eat less beef, and don’t let the stock market’s 50% run-up since March lull you into thinking it’s clear sailing ahead. The best things in life are free – and it’s a good thing that they are. Because, to borrow another lyric, the best is yet to come, but not immediately or easily. Really? You want more? PAUL KRUGMAN ON “SALTWATER VERSUS FRESHWATER” ECONOMICS This from Sunday’s New York Times Magazine is lengthy if you think of it as a magazine article. But it’s an amazing time-saver when seen for what it (almost) is: a complete college-level economics course in 20 minutes.