ronnie

As every schoolchild in America knows, Ronald Reagan defeated communism. His innovative policies also caused the current financial crisis but that is another matter. Let's stay positive for now and focus on the good parts of this story. Ronnie is after all one of our most beloved Presidents and he is the one President all Republicans aspire to equal-surely none would dream to surpass him as that is impossible. No doubt many Republican faithful lie awake at night wondering what has happened to their country and hoping for a second coming of their Messiah. Ronnie is as enduring a hero of capitalism as his famous namesake Ronald McDonald. Both stand for everything that is right in this country.

It is hard to sack nice people, no matter how badly they mess up. That is the advice I was once given by a senior executive when faced with having to let go of a person who was universally loved but incompetent. Nice guys just smile at you and make you forget everything else. And that is the problem when dealing with Ronnie. Who could forget his infectious grandfatherly smile? Not even the Berkeley students of the sixties who faced a much more grimacing governor. What better icon to have than a smiling superhero who defeated the most evil of economic systems and showed once and for all that communism is an abject failure.

Unfortunately, Ronnie is long dead and buried but communism is alive and well. The People's Republic of China just celebrated its 60th anniversary on October 1. And China is not just any communism. China's brand is seen by many as the quintessential and purest form of communism. The vile economic system that leads to poverty and despair. But we better stop here lest we upset our Chinese friends who now hold so much of our debt. Growing at double digit rates, theirs is an economy that keeps many in the West awake and drooling. China of all places appears to be the only big nation on the planet to have weathered the current economic downturn. A recession so big it evoked memories of the Great Depression. But weathering is putting it mildly. The Chinese economy is still growing.

So it is perhaps appropriate to revisit an old cliche:
Ronnie: Communism is dead
Communism: Ronnie is dead.