“Allentown, Pa., is in some ways a profoundly ordinary place….The latest details of the government’s proposed $700 billion rescue plan was not the main story in the local paper, The Morning Call, on Sept. 23 (an article about the end of a teachers’ strike was). But it is on people’s minds….’People see that the chief executives of these finance companies are making millions on the backs of taxpayers,’ says Ed Pawlowski, the Democratic Mayor of Allentown.” (from Business Week online)
In addition to Allentown, you can add major cities to the list. Rarely has anything “Washington” galvanized such a large cross-section of the American electorate. However, the bailout is a sore topic with many folks, and the congressional website was overwhelmed the last few days.
Why are people so upset? Brett Slack sums up the feeling of many in the same Business Week article: “The government should go after the CEOs. I own a business, and if I went under, the bank would come after me. They made bad decisions and figured the government would bail them out. If the CEOs end up sleeping in cardboard boxes, that would be O.K. with me. They don’t deserve to be multimillionaires.”
Nothing could be more true.
The high-flying execs knew what they were doing, made a great deal of money doing it and, now, when it blows up in their faces, they want the US taxpayer to pay for their mistakes. What’s worse is that congress knew what their pals on Wall Street were doing, they helped create the problem with their legislation, they knew about the problem long before it became newsworthy, and now they’re running for political cover by voting “Nay” on the bailout.
Further exacerbating the problem is the public stance of politicians. CNN posted a commentary by Congressman Jim Marshall yesterday. In the article, Marshall, a bankruptcy professor and lawyer, lays out his opinion as to why America has to accept the bailout. However, Marshall was serving in congress when the bankruptcy laws were tightened-up. Apparently the congressman thinks it’s perfectly okay for each of us to face the court’s wrath for our high-flying, credit-ridden lives, but his pals on Wall Street get a pass.
In light of Congressman Marshall’s commentary for CNN, the following is this author’s response:
Dear Congressman Marshall,
I read your commentary published by CNN this morning. Although you make some valid points, I’m not quite sure you and your peers fully comprehend how upset your fellow Americans are regarding this economic debacle and the congressional actions that preceded said problem.
First, many Americans, whether addicted to credit or not, are certainly not making the fat-cat salaries that the high-flying speculators are – men and women that created this mess out of personal greed.
Secondly, American “baby boomers” are looking at the harsh reality of a broken and unfixable Social Security system, as well as a troubled market where many of us have invested solely because there is no future tax-base for the payments due us from Social Security, even though we’ve been paying into a broken system for years.
Third, in addition to the bankrupt Social Security system and an artificially inflated market, we are quite aware of the $1.2 trillion spent to bailout the high-flyers this past year, let alone another trillion dollars in this latest bailout plan.
Fourth, add in another 10-75 trillion dollar national debt, and we are painfully aware that our children’s future has been mortgaged beyond redemption, when viewed from the perspective of our country’s projected population figures.
Fifth, all economic rhetoric to the contrary, there is no such thing as a “service economy.” Furthermore, those industries that do produce goods are in dire financial straits (automobile manufacturers come quickly to mind).
Sixth, your fellow Americans are asking tough questions: Why did congress support toughened bankruptcy laws? Was it done to protect President Bush’s buddies? Why did congress support President Clinton’s Freddie and Fannie initiatives? Was it to support his pandering to the Hispanic vote? Why did congress support President George HW Bush’s initiative to limit meat sales in overseas commissaries to American cattle producers – at the military member’s expense? Was it to support his cronies in Texas? Why are your fellow Democrats attempting to attach riders to a bailout? Why is congress opposed to eliminating the death tax? Why are both houses robbing our children of their inheritance in order to bailout scoundrels?
Congressman, I have spoken with a great many people about this issue. Not only are they opposed to the bailout, they want the perpetrators and their collaborators in congress punished. I have heard suggestions ranging from tar and feathering, to water boarding, to detention in GITMO, as well as capital punishment – sans trial – proffered as possible punishments for your colleagues and Wall Street’s corrupt leaders.
Here’s the bottom line: Americans are angry. We see our children’s future being ruined and congress as the single impediment to our retiring with financial security and leaving our children an inheritance.
Respectfully, your fellow American,
Mark Epstein, San Antonio, Texas
Meanwhile, over at Fox News, today’s question is “How Would YOU Solve the Economic Crisis?”
Filed under: Economy, Ethics, Government, Law, Media, Politics, Presidential Election 2008
