The hysteria over the financial crisis is exacerbating the crisis.
It's time to sit down and think about what we, the American people, want to have happen here.
We all know that decisions made in haste are rarely optimal, and this much money and haste are not a good combination. If we don't act as rashly and rapidly as this administration wants, where will the consequences fall? Heh - on those who made the problem? It will take a while to "trickle down" to us. So why not look at our cards and see what we, the people, can play? Time is on our side, not theirs.
Ok, so our guys have addressed the Main Street vs Wall Street question. It is an important and essential part of the Obama campaign: Wall Street cannot bring sustained profitability to itself without engendering a prosperous middle class. Yeah, yeah, CEO pay and yada yada.
But, we in this particular room know that Wall Street is not going to learn its lesson without a little pain. That's item one of what Main Street is missing and the American people are wishing for in this crisis:
- Make them feel the pain of their own errors.
So far, I haven't heard anything approaching that. Have you? Excessive greed that thumbs its nose at the health of America and the world can no longer be tolerated - here in the US or anywhere in the world. It is the single most destructive force damaging our planet, our economy and our spirit. Now is the time to stop it...in its tracks.
Here's the other missing piece in all this rush to save the universal economy: ACCOUNTABILITY. Almost no one has mentioned it. It is not a part of the negotiations taking place between our Democratic and Republican representatives we have elected to the Senate and the House. Every slightest mention I have heard of it is immediately discounted as irrelevant in the face of the urgency of the situation. Bullcrapola.
Obama needs to stand up in front of the American people and ask them to demand these two things in any deal. ACCOUNTABILITY and RESPONSIBILITY.
Those are American principles the rest of us have to live up to every day.
I know. I'm a completely flummoxed human being because I don't understand politics, or economics, or finance.
But I'm damned sure that this is exactly what the American people, Democrats and Republicans and Independents alike - are burning to hear.
Stop with the urgency. Let the greedfucks stew for a bit. Let some consequences fall where they may. We can turn on a dime, honest. But calm down, and think about the future consequences of this freaking bailout. Let's have consequences fall where they belong for a change - and for a big change, let's have some accountability that extends beyond the lower courts for a while...
Please give it to us, Oh, Obama!