Another day, another bailout
Posted on Monday, October 6, 2008
One of the most amusing moments
of the past few days came when
Nevada Sen. Harry Reid intoned the grim possibility that a major insurance company might go bankrupt. Those of you who have experienced an accident or illness might want to pause to savor the moment. Of course, nobody really wants one of them to go under, and this was a disturbing revelation. There were uneasy shufflings and sighs over the uncertain fate of these distinguished scions of high finance. What would become of their Lawn-Boys and Lexuses ? Obviously, when the welloff are in trouble, it’s a by-gosh national emergency. Democrat Reid was careful not to name any names. Decorum must be preserved. We would not wish to disturb quiescent investors, and why should such pillars of the business community be subjected to public discomfort ? That’s the kind of thing you might do to some mere struggling mother trying to raise kids on minimum wage with no child support. You need to bring less worthy people down to the welfare office and run ’em through the maze. If you don’t keep the working poor humble, they just turn into a rabble.
If there is any indignation left, it’s because our national legislature has become an elite social club, disconnected from the lives of ordinary people. I’m not done by a long shot, so just settle back and enjoy the ride. It’s gonna get pretty wild.
This situation of failing financial institutions is worse than 9 / 11. If some deluded foreign extremists take down a couple of skyscrapers, that’s bad, but we can deal with it. When our own citizens, and some of the most privileged individuals in this great land of opportunity, care so little for the well-understood consequences of their unchecked self-indulgence and continue in their greedy excess, even knowing that it will ultimately ruin the country, that’s a lot more serious.
I’ve just about got all of it out of my system, and if this sounds like class warfare, so be it. How stupid do they think we are ? That stuff pouring down on our heads is not rain, and the bailout seems to be little more than a continuation and explicit endorsement of the same corporate excesses. Drink up, boys and girls ! The American people are picking up this round !
Who do you think will purchase this new debt ? Whoever they are, they may easily become our masters. This is a national security crisis. If anybody thinks this is just a matter of writing a check and getting it over with, think again. The next president is absolutely hog-tied by this enormous, unwieldy, impossible fiscal burden and we are increasingly at the mercy of our enemies.
At the bottom of the near-collapse of the financial system and the supposed taxpayer financed solution is the assumption that we can do whatever we damn well please and buy ourselves out of it later. This brand of arrogance cries out for correction and, as you can see in the recent news, the punishment is sometimes included in the deed.
There is still the practical matter of what exactly ought to be done. This much is certain: The very last place we should put $ 700 billion is in the hands of the people who ran their businesses and this country into near-oblivion, but that is exactly what Congress is doing.
A gentleman wrote the Voices page the other day noting that the honest people who work hard and save are suffering today because of the misdeeds of those who don’t. He’s right. That is one good reason why the financial sector must be, first and foremost, re-regulated.
It is of no particular comfort that Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama agree with the Bush administration. This is reflective of a general sense of timid subordination to the special interests that orchestrate the campaign contributions that buy the commercials designed to fool the cabbage heads like us.
There is no help coming from Arkansas’ political establishment. A fine lawyer from Fort Smith named Rebekah Kennedy opposes Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor. Kennedy is running on the Green Party ticket. Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln does not come up this year. Among members of the U. S. House, Democrats Mike Ross and Vic Snyder, as well as Republican John Boozman, have Green Party opponents, but Democrat Marion Berry gets a free pass from all sides, so largely thanks to our do-nothing state Republican Party, previously masquerading as a functioning political entity, our congressional delegation has no substantial accountability. At least the Greens try.
Mind you, generally speaking, Republicans should not be entrusted with public office. Nonetheless, we need them to occasionally raise important issues. Think of them as beneficial reptiles, like rattlesnakes.
Furthermore, being an additional trillion dollars in debt, how will we ever fix our bridges and highways, improve rail transportation, protect the elderly and disabled, educate our young people and keep the United States Air Force flying high ? Will we write another trillion-dollar check next month ? Just wait. California is hinting that it may need a $ 7 billion federal “loan.” As Arkansans, living in a state legally constrained to spending no more than its revenue, do you think we should pay for California’s obligations ? In all honestly, its officials have some accountability. It makes more sense to take care of them than corporate bigwigs.
—–––––•–––––—Free-lance columnist Pat Lynch has been a radio broadcaster in Central Arkansas for more than 20 years.
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