Posts from — September 2008

It’s time to play “Who caused the crisis” 
It doesn’t matter which crisis. In recent times:

• It started under President Clinton.
• It’s all President George W. Bush’s fault. 
• Alan Greenspan created the easy money pyramid collapsing around us
• Barney Frank never met a GSE he didn’t love
• Chris Dodd never met an over-regulated bank
• Fannie Mae went berserk lending tens of millions of dollars to folks who could not possibly pay it back.
• Freddie Mac corrupted the system buying influence in the bodies meant to regulate it.

You get the idea.  It’s the other guy’s fault.

The finger pointing will eventually end: with 4,350 digits among them, even Congress has to run out of fingers with which to point.

Problem is the blame game solves nothing.  Sure there is the satisfaction of a nationally televised “perp walk” as some high flying big shot is marched off for arraignment on some bribery or obstruction of justice charge. 

And just like the bailout bill, such “perp walks” remove some of the toxic junk on the books (or from the halls of Congress).

But to really clean out the system, the system needs to be flushed.   Totally hosed out. (Before they hose us.)

My personal opinion as to why the system is so screwed up, is reflected in the following table.  Some of these folks have been around more than 50 years.  The House and Senate, like any institution, vests power in its longest serving members. Hardly surprising as these are the very members who make the rules!

This growth in Professional Legislators stands in stark contrast to the early days of the Republic.  During the first 100 years of the Senate’s existence, members who made it into their second six-year term were considered long-time veterans.  During any Congress of that era, as many as half the senators failed to serve out a full six-year term.  In fact, the early 19th-century witnessed several complete turnovers of Senate membership within just 12 years. The first person to approach a 30-year service record in the U.S. Senate was Missouri’s Thomas Hart Benton, who reached this milestone in 1851.  Another 40 years passed, however, before another senator achieved the three-decade mark.  Today, among the 1,865 who have ever served, 47 have logged at least 30 years.

It’s time for term limits folks.

This November, go to the polls and ThrowAllTheBumsOut !

The unthinkable happened today. 

The House of Representatives allowed a fit of pique to endanger the financial security of the Nation.  The jaw dropping (and gut wrenching) 778 point drop in the Dow Jones index occured in a matter of minutes as a direct result of the 228 – 205 vote against the Emergency Stabilization Bill of 2008 aka “The Bailout Bill”.

Republicans whined partisan politics on the part of Speaker Pelosi was responsible for the collapse of the legislation. 

According to Speaker Pelosi, democrats “delivered on our side of the bargain” by getting 60 percent of House Democrats to support the bill.

The bailout had been touted as a bipartisan solution to the ever widening financial crisis.  The vote totals showed something else: bipartisan CYA. In all, 65 Republicans joined 140 Democrats in voting “yes,” while 133 Republicans and 95 Democrats voted no; apparently deciding their re-election prospects were more important than the health of the financial system.

All weekend, the buzz swirling around these talks with Speaker Pelosi, House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, minority whip Rep. Roy Blunt and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Barney Frank extolled the wide ranging cooperation and bi-partisan nature of this historic (and extra-constitutional) abrogation of Legislative power to the Executive branch.

But when time came to vote , on the record, for all the world to see, these vermin headed for the shadows trying desperately to avoid any responsibility for the 700 BILLION bailout of an unregulated Wall Street.  Once again, these would be masters of the universe sought the anonymity they so richly deserve. 

So .. approximately one trillion dollars of our retirement accounts, college savings, stock portfolios and related investments went POOF because a few wealthy, spoiled children plunked themselves on the floor of the House and whined Nancy Pelosi hurt their feelings.  Like little kids, they held their breath until their faces turned blue and the market skidded into another Black Monday.

It is time for these elected representatives of the people to put OUR interests first. 

I don’t have the slightest idea how to fix this mess.  To quote Economy Nobel prize winner Joseph Stiglitz “…Some of America’s best and brightest were devoting their talents to getting around standards and regulations designed to ensure the efficiency of the economy and the safety of the banking system. Unfortunately, they were far too successful, and we are all – homeowners, workers, investors, taxpayers – paying the price.”

I don’t pretend to be a match for these Titans of Commerce; the Wizards of Wall Street; these “best and brightest”. 

(I remember the last time the “best and brightest”  ran the country ,visiting devastation on the Nation.)

I do know that anyone currently occupying a legislative, executive or regulatory postion with the US government is NOT a candidate for this undertaking.  Nor, from the examples in Halberstam’s book, are academics a viable choice to lead a team searching for real world solutions to real problems.

That leaves the business community. 

Like Diogenise, America searches for a honest man or woman willing to serve the Nation in a time of peril. 

Not for fame. Not for power. Not for riches. For America.

Now more than ever, we need a leader.