Chad's spot for various thoughts, musings, poetry, ideas and whatnot

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

OK, so the Prez is concerned enough about the "public who elected him"'s reaction to the huge bailout plan he and his appointees at the Fed and Treasury have put together that he decided to address that same public on national TV. Here are a few of my thoughts about his statement:

(1) We've seen this song and dance before. I can't speak for anyone else but I know I'm dubious. Is this just another theatrical exercise of political spin? I can't help feeling that our President is about as clueless as a guy can be. His speech was not reassuring but seemed broken and halting.

(2) No new regulation for financial institutions who got us into this in the bailout legislation? Are you kidding me? We're expected to pull these guys' asses out of the fire and we don't get to tell them how they're going to use our money? Incredible.

(3) Did he blame this on foreign financial institutions? Somehow I don't think those foreign institutions wrote all those mortgages after our government deregulated the lending market. As far as I can tell, Countrywide was an American company. Another sign that our government is no longer capable of taking responsibility for it's failings. What was a campaign strategy has now become policy.

(4) I don't feel better and I don't feel like our leaders have a handle on this thing. Bernanke and Paulson have told us too many times that the latest government intervention will work. Why should I believe them now? These are guys are supposed to be smart guys but I don't see it. I can't help but think that they're just anther bunch of dupes that really work for the huge financial companies and not the American people. It's kind of like Cheney cutting the energy deal with the oil companies a few years back or the intelligence industry who were supposed to warn us about terrorism and weapons of mass destruction but who convinced the President to lose focus on the war in Afghanistan in order to get bogged in Iraq.

I know we have to intervene in order to avoid a depression (not a "long, painful recession" like Bush suggested; yet another sign of denial) but if it's my money then I want strong regulation now that can be reworked later. I want independent oversight from a body that has no vested interest in the success of the institutions and no political hay to made made. I want the executives who made the investment decisions removed from their positions of power (with no "golden parachutes") and I want the boards of directors of the companies dissolved for one year as they are brought under independent, non-partisan oversight. In one year the boards will be reconstituted after new regulations have been crafted and then CEO's can be hired.

That's what it'll take to restore confidence in the system for me and I think that's what it will take to restore the confidence of those who are going to have to buy the Treasury bonds to make the $700 billion rescue package happen. I certainly don't have confidence in the all the President's men.

The Physicist   Link Me    |