Old and stale bread

"Maybe we need a futurist as a cabinet position. Someone who really knows how to think and imagine, while still being rooted in reality. Do we only have one person, out of over 300 million who knows how to think and imagine?"

Got up this morning, and went into the kitchen to find some breakfast. As usual, there was very little new and exciting to munch on. Like, all we had was the leftovers from a loaf of bread. And since we have had it for a while (actually, a long while), it was old and stale. 

Okay - that was a fable. But the "old and stale" thing came to mind when I heard on the news today, the Administration was going to (try and) authorize a "fuel tax holiday" for three months. On all diesel and gasoline. How is that going to work? We just won't be collecting monies for the highway trust fund. Wait - what? I thought we were in dire need of infrastructure improvement. How do we square that circle? Good question. And that, brought up another foolish idea from years past.

During the now infamous "stagflation" period of Jimmy Carter, another foolish idea was floated. The economy was SO BAD (yes, even worse than now), Carter's wizards of smart wanted a "FICA holiday". Same flawed logic as a gasoline tax holiday. FICA funds our Social Security fund. Even back then, there was talk about Social Security running out of money. So what logic, if any, would come from a "FICA holiday"? None. Fortunately, it never happened. It was another "old and stale bread" solution.

We need some new and crisp thinking, with new and crisp ideas leading to new and crisp solutions. I can't remember when I heard something new and exciting coming out of Washington, DC or St. Paul. Nothing. Nada.

I read an article online yesterday by a transportation expert. His thesis was our "golden age" of transportation might be over. Congestion and cancellations at airports, and expensive gasoline. People just won't travel as much. Are we going to just roll over, like a sick dog, and take it? Or, are we going to come up with some new and crisp thinking to give us some new and crisp solutions?

No offense to anyone who has a dog in this fight, but we need a new breed of people in government who really know how to think. No more old and stale thinking giving us old and stale solutions. One moderate Democrat, who my wife and I like to listen to, has a new and crisp solution for our gas woes. Do everything, including opening up ALL out drilling. Come up with a plan, how the country will phase into EV or other renewables by the end of the decade. Right now, our transportation is a cluster. No thinking, knee jerk solutions which lead to nothing, and needless expense in driving anywhere. 

We need leaders who know how to think. Know how to imagine. Like Elon. He knows how to imagine. Not perfect thinking all the time, but pretty darn good most of the time. What do we have in leadership? Women who know how to laugh and cackle. Men who know how to pontificate and lie. Meanwhile, China, which should be a lesser country to ours, is passing us in leapfrog movements. 

Maybe we need a futurist as a cabinet position. Someone who really knows how to think and imagine, while still being rooted in reality. Do we only have one person, out of over 300 million who knows how to think and imagine? Come on folks! We can do better than that! If we can't, one day our grandchildren might all be speaking Mandarin.