(Photo originally posted to Flickr as Plane Crash into Hudson by Greg L/ Illustration by Marketplace)
Last week, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner demonstrated the power of words when his speech on the bank rescue plan rattled the markets. Perhaps, he should take a cue from the Public Insight Network and find a metaphor that helps him explain his fix.
The Flight 1549 Metaphor by Fred Klingener in Roxbury, CT
So far, all I hear is people arguing about restarting the engines or trying to make it back to LaGuardia. Some visionaries, so far ignored, are talking about trying to make Teterborough. Somewhere, I suppose, there’s a glider pilot who’s capable of salvaging something out of this, but we’re running out of altitude for him/her to work with. It’d be good if we faced it. The plane we’ve been on is never going to fly again.
The Fire Metaphor by Michael Leonard in Yarmouth, ME
Longevity is missing from the package. Getting money now might have an instant effect but it will not have any lasting effect in my opinion. It’s like burning newspapers in your fireplace instead of wood - the paper burns fast and gives you instant flames but it does very little to keep you warm for more than a couple of minutes. What this economy needs is some wood - and an appropriate fire starter. The Stimulus package is just a bunch of newpspaper coming our way.
The Family Metaphor by Brian Hughes in Oak Bluffs, MA
The stimulus package has too much devoted to tax cuts. We are boring money to stimulate the economy and we are passing that debt on to future tax payers. Tax cuts, which are borrowed, are a way of taking money from future tax payers and giving it away to present tax payers. It’s an ineffective way to stimulate the economy and a lousy deal for future taxpayers. However, to invest in infrastructure, research, development, education, etc. is, at least, to transform the borrowed money into hard assets that will be used by those same future tax payers from which we will have borrowed. Let’s imagine parents who borrow money in the name of their children. When the children become adults and take on the responsibility for the debt, what would they prefer? A. The parents spent the money and had a good time. B. The parents built a solid, durable house with the money.
Here at Marketplace we have our very own metaphor machine who helps us explain the business news.
What metaphor do you use to describe the economy?
What is it, anyway, with all those metaphorical New Englanders?