Keys to Recovery

Conservative -- truly conservative, not pseudo- or nouveau conservative -- philosophies seem to be the key to the post-recession economic success of metropolitan centers in various parts of the world cited in a Brookings Institution survey, "Global MetroMonitor: The Path to Economic Recovery." Alan Berube, who reported on the survey, discussed it earlier this week on one of my favorite radio programs, "Conversations with Kathleen Dunn" on Wisconsin Public Radio.

Surprisingly, the metropolitan area that topped the list as having the best economy based on employment and production output per capita in the first year after the Great Recession was -- (drum roll) -- Istanbul, Turkey. The best the U.S. did was Austin, TX, which placed 26 (out of a total 150 metropolitan centers worldwide). Next best U.S. metro area was Virginia Beach VA at 36. The criteria were employmennt rates and output per capita.

So, why Istanbul? Two factors, according to Berube.

One is that Istanbul experienced no real estate bubbl. In other words, unlike a number of metro centers such as Las Vegas NV and Dublin, Ireland, that went through huge pre-recession housing booms, Istanbul took a conservative approach during economic good times and didn't overbuild. Both Las Vegas and Dublin were among the top economically successful metro centers pre-recession, and both were on the bottom post-recession.

The other is that its banks also took a conservative approach in their operations. They didn't engage in exotic "investiment instruments" such as credit-default swaps and other complex derivatives. As a result, when the financial world began to teeter on the brink of collapse banks in other parts of the world that did trade in such risky behavior parked a large amount of their assets in the safe havens of Istanbul banks, which enriched the Istanbul metro region.

Other metropolitan areas that ranked well in the first post-recession year are in Asia and Latin America. Lima, Peru; Rio de Janiero, Brazil, and Singapore, for instance.

Some common denominators among the successful metropolitan centers include low tolerance for corruption, not engaging in war and having a strong manufacturing base.

All three reflect conservative values, i.e.

(1) not liberally engaging in or condoning corruption;
(2) being very conservative about attacking and/or declaring war on another country;
(3) hanging onto and being very reluctant to and frugal about outsourcing jobs -- especially manufacturing jobs -- to other countires.

Berube quoted a Brazilian official he talked to about the Brookings report as saying, "We would rather go to our beautiful sun-drenched beaches than go to war."

One of the top metro centers, Shenzhen, China, Berube mentioned was a little fishing village of 25,000 in 1980 and is now a major manufacturing center and container-ship port of 10 million people. Manufacturing, according to Berube, isn't the end all for places like Shenzhen, but a foundation that is the basis for growth into modern technological industry such as telecommuncations.

In contrast, places such as Las Vegas that are consumption dependent with the majority of jobs in the service, hospitality and housing development wound up in the bottom of the rankings.

I'm on Twitter @jerrianneh

Liberal Conservatives

A friend replied to my “Epiphany” post of a few days ago, agreeing with my view of Las Vegas.

‘It makes me shudder,” she wrote. “Everything I want to avoid.”

Although she has self-identified as a lifelong liberal, after reading my blog, she’s beginning to understands that, like me, she might also be truly conservative in many respects, such as family and (truly conservative) family values.

“Family is where love and charity grow,” she said. “Family is at the very core of our society and needs to be strong, supportive and connected. Family does not have to be husband, wife and children, of course. It can be any close-knit group or even couple.” 

I stumped her, though, in asserting that in many way, people who embrace today’s concept of conservative (not!) ideology and label.

“Can you explain more?” she asked.

Sure.

In many areas, people who are called conservatives these days advocate the liberal application or use of a number of methods, tactics, policies, practices and options, which illustrates just how topsy-turvy, even meaningless, the terms have become. Here are some examples:

• The death penalty.  So-called conservatives are generally in favor of imposing the death penalty for certain types of crimes and even expanding it to include even more categories. That seems like a pretty liberal stance. E.g., the liberal application/use of the death penalty versus the rare and conservative use of imposing the death penalty.

• Military intervention.  Today’s conservatives are far more likely to support military attack and/or invasion and maintaining a military presence in foreign affairs, as opposed to those considered liberal in today’s parlance who favor the very conservative use of military force, only in the most dire circumstances in defense of our country and not pre-emptively. Just today a nouveau conservative commented on a Facebook status update I posted about a blog post titled “The Shock Doctrine Push To Gut Social Security And Middle Class,” comparing it to the run-up to Bush’s invasion of Iraq. “The"run up" to the war was as popular 8 years ago as Obama was 3 years ago,” he wrote. Perhaps with his crowd, but it sure wasn’t with mine and millions like us.

• Religious beliefs and practices. Modern-day conservatives—particularly those who profess to be Christian and even more particularly the more ostentatiously Christian—are not the least bit conservative about imposing their religion onto others, into political discourse and into public/policy. They have nery liberal views of how much their religion can be inserted into and influence government, the First Amendment to the Constitution not withstanding.

 Those are just a few areas. More later.

An Epiphany

The epiphany that I’m truly conservative occurred a little over a month ago while I was emailing with a friend. I had just returned from a Society of Professional Journalists convention in Las Vegas. My friend asked how my trip was and said that she had never been there, but thought it might be a fun place to visit.

It is, I replied, one of my least favorite places in the world (OK, of the places in the world that I’ve been). I had lived there for a couple of years in the ‘80s while working at a Las Vegas newspaper and have been back a few times since – on business. It doesn’t offer anything that I consider fun. So far as I’m concerned Vegas was bad enough twenty-five years ago and has only gotten worse since. So I unloaded on my friend.

“It is so fake and artificial and ultra-promotional of everything I dislike –gambling, smoke-filled hotels (altho they've made some strides to clean that up), drinking, prostitution, girlie shows, total debasement of women. Everything to obscene excess. You can't walk anywhere w/o guys shoving girlie cards in people's faces – a dozen or more of these guys every block wearing "Girls! Girls! Girls! Direct to you!" t-shirts. I'm way too conservative for all of that. I'm also way too jaded, cynical and judgmental about, not only the scene and the tourists who revel in it, but the hypocrisy of the über-religious and pious residents who are supported directly and indirectly by that Caligula-esque-fueled economy. But don’t get me started!”

The shocker was when I wrote, “I’m way too conservative for all of that.” It just flowed from my fingertips into the keyboard and onto my computer screen without any conscious thought from me. I sat and stared at what was staring back at me. Did I just write that? Surely I couldn’t mean it. But it had erupted so spontaneously. When my friend reads it, I thought, she will either snort with disbelief or think I've tipped off my trolley. I’m pretty sure she votes Republican, but have never talked politics with her because I value our friendship above trying to make political points or win any political debates.

That's when the epiphany hit.

It’s true, I realized. I am conservative in so many ways. Certainly in the ways that repulse me about Las Vegas. I don’t gamble and never have, despite living in places like Vegas where gambling is so ubiquitous. The spirits, wine and beer industry would go out of business if everyone drank as little as I do. I dress rather modestly and cringe at all the cleavage spilling out of the TV and off of movie screens. I feel relentless outrage over the double-standard, denigration, subjugation, misogyny, repression and belittling of females in today’s society and culture. (Some might consider that a “liberal” viewpoint, but it’s not. Those who engage in such behavior are very liberally discriminating against women and girls and doing so is certainly not a truly conservative value.)

Although I followed my Eisenhower-Republican parents’ political persuasion for the first decade or so after I married and got out into the world, with the passage of time, being a conservative has been increasingly antithetical to how I view myself politically.

On occasion, with the ongoing political polarization in this country, I have protested that some of the positions and ideology being espoused by political conservatives is anything but conservative in the pure sense of the word. But I had never incorporated that idea into my own identity.

But the more I thought about my reply to my friend’s email, the more I realized that I, in truth, am conservative and those who identify as political conservatives are, in reality, pretty liberal in many respects.

I’m on Twitter @jerrianneh