It was just two years ago that the Supreme Court, in a landmark decision, scraped away decades of barnacled case law obscuring our beloved Constitution and unequivocally established the right of corporations, unions and wealthy individuals to spend as much money as they want to influence the outcome of elections.

The request for big ideas brought lengthy, passionate briefs in favor of thorium reactors, nonstop flights to China, buried power lines, privatization of state and county liquor monopolies, agricultural clusters in the exurbs, more knowledgeable bank loan officers, more runways at Dulles, more bike paths and more trams in the inner cities. All worthy ideas, I’m sure, but not exactly the economic turbochargers I was seeking.

A lot has changed in the decades since George Johnson, then the president of the small, struggling George Mason University, first convened the 123 Club, in large part because of the efforts of the men gathered around Johnson’s dining room table.

Since 2007, the region’s economy has grown by about 14 percent at a time when the national economy has expanded by about 3 percent. According to Stephen Fuller, my colleague at George Mason University and the go-to guy for statistics on the regional economy, growth here has exceeded that of every other metropolitan region.

The reason Buffett’s overall tax rate may be lower than his secretary’s is because nearly all of his income comes in interest payments, dividends and profits on the sale of stocks and bonds known as capital gains. Under the George W. Bush tax cuts, the tax rate on this “unearned” income was reduced to a flat 15 percent, a level below the effective tax rate for most households earning more than $100,000 a year (Buffett’s is no ordinary secretary!).

Millionaire owners and millionaire players are once again squabbling over how to divvy up a $4 billion annual booty, even as 15 million Americans can’t find full-time work and the average worker hasn’t received a raise in a decade.

You actually thought companies existed to make products and profits.

You thought houses were meant to provide a place for people to live and office buildings a place for people to work.

You thought food was meant to be eaten, oil and gas to be turned into energy, and metals to be turned into cars, bridges and downspouts.

— Herman Cain, from an Oct. 5 video interview with the Wall Street Journal’s Alan Murray

I wish it were true that Occupy Wall Street could morph into our “American spring,” a left-wing counterweight to the tea party.

I wish it were true that this naive and incoherent movement could somehow turn itself into the long-overdue national protest against speculation and manipulation by a financial services industry that misallocated so much capital and talent and continues to keep much of the global economy on the edge of recession.

Don’t you wish government could get its act together and perform with the efficiency and competence of the private sector?

Repeal the 20th century. Vote GOP.

It’s not just the 21st century they want to turn the clock back on — health-care reform, global warming and the financial regulations passed in the wake of the recent financial crises and accounting scandals.

I’m talking about Steve Jobs, another young leader who rose fast, hit a wall and came crashing down to reality but somehow managed to muster the brilliance and strength of character to stage the greatest comeback in corporate history.

There’s still some of that. But out in Silicon Valley, patents have become the competitive weapon of choice, used by high-tech giants to bludgeon rivals and crush upstarts.

The economy is flatlining. Global financial markets are in turmoil. Your stock price is down about 15 percent in three weeks. Your customers have lost all confidence in the economy. Your employees, at least the American ones, are cynical and demoralized. Your government is paralyzed.

Short answer: Because we never really fixed underlying structural problems in the U.S. and global economies that had been building for decades and caused the financial and economic crisis in 2008.

One of my earliest childhood memories is sitting barefoot and shirtless on a stool at a lunch counter a block from the beach in Ogunquit, Maine, gulping down a bowl of clam chowder.

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]]> http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=2d4cf2bcaedada536b7b0173ac55b333 http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/why-we-live-with-the-dreaded-thick-chowder-and-other-inferior-products/2011/07/25/gIQACqmWhI_story.html?wprss=rss_linkset http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/why-we-live-with-the-dreaded-thick-chowder-and-other-inferior-products/2011/07/25/gIQACqmWhI_story.html?wprss=rss_linkset http://www.washingtonpost.com/Fragment/SysConfig/WebPortal/twpweb/rss/mobile/blog-entry.jpp?id=1000.1.3527106342 http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/why-we-live-with-the-dreaded-thick-chowder-and-other-inferior-products/2011/07/25/gIQACqmWhI_story.html?wprss=rss_linkset http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/why-we-live-with-the-dreaded-thick-chowder-and-other-inferior-products/2011/07/25/gIQACqmWhI_story.html 1000.1.3527106342 3feaf206-b6cb-11e0-8328-a33fbd557e69 Sat, 30 Jul 2011 20:02:00 EST Sun, 31 Jul 2011 01:43:39 EST 20110731064339 The Washington Post /2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2011/07/25/National-Economy/Stories/pearlstein31.xml Two to three dozen medium-size clams

Bottled clam juice

Three small onions

Three celery stalks

Man, what a week that was!

Rupert Murdoch, who for decades made profit and sport running roughshod over competitors, public figures and anyone who dared to get in his way, was treated to a generous dose of his own medicine. Although the humbled press lord was able to quickly wipe from his face the cream pie hurled at him at last week’s parliamentary hearing, he won’t easily recover from the tire marks left on his back by the politicians, prosecutors and vengeful press pack. For a man who loves to rationalize the excesses of his media empire by claiming he was just giving the public what it wanted, it must have been particularly galling to see how many have shown up for a seat at his hanging.

Like many small investors during that era, my father was a proud IBM shareholder, which among other benefits entitled us to passes for a special showing at the IBM pavilion. Once we settled into our seats, as I recall it, the entire audience was magically lifted 50 feet in the air and into a spherical, multimedia auditorium, where we were treated to a magical tour of the technological future. I can’t remember what we heard and saw, but I do remember wishing that it would never end.

I found both Mitts while reading his obligatory pre-campaign book, “No Apology,” with the lapel-pin subtitle, “Believe in America.”

The U.S. economy has become less dynamic and entrepreneurial.

That was after Mitt Romney rolled out his long-awaited explanation for why he was in favor of requiring individuals to buy a basic health insurance plan before he turned against that idea.

I won’t try to convince you that what’s really interesting about l’affaire Strauss-Kahn are the implications for International Monetary Fund policy and Europe’s debt crisis.

But when Google wanted to buy ITA, a leading maker of travel software, the review was conducted by a different agency: the antitrust division of the Justice Department. It was also Justice that earlier nixed the idea of a merger with Yahoo.

Will Vice President Biden hammer out a budget deal with bipartisan representatives before the debt ceiling is reached?