Our Seb, yesterday. Let’s pass by his Beltway-standard pissing and moaning about the polarization of American politics—making one’s way to the cocktail weenie table is so unpleasant lately. You never know who you’ll run into! Ain’t it awful?—and make our way, as few before us have, to the end of his column, where we find this gem:

I’m not predicting the end of the American era, not by a long shot. The U.S. business culture is as pragmatic and effective as its political culture is dysfunctional. But has there been a worse moment for American power since Ronald Reagan celebrated morning in America almost a quarter of a century ago? I can’t think of one.

Well. The news, today:

Former Enron Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Skilling was to learn Monday how long he will have to spend behind bars for orchestrating one of the nation’s biggest financial scandals.

The [Enron] collapse wiped out thousands of jobs, more than $60 billion in market value and more than $2 billion in pension plans.

That’s some “pragmatism”, eh? Real “effective”, right, Seb?  Read more