Three Elephants in the Livingroom

I find three things missing in all the talk about the financial bail-out.  Although there is endless acknowledgement that we, the taxpayers, will be responsible for having to bail Wall Street out of a mess that they clearly made, there has not been one apology to us.  Not in Bush's speech last night, nor in Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke's, nor from any of the failing Wall Street firms', Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae's, CEO's.  And none of the pundits even mentions this lack.  Am I the only one who "hears" this gap as a silence that deafens?  Am I the only one who thinks it's the epitome of boorishness and incivility to blame, blame, blame, yet never offer a whisper of apology to us, the people who will have to clean up the mess?

    And in these words "have to," above.  Isn't that the way it is?  And yet suddenly we're hearing all kinds of talk as if it's up to us.  Talk like: The American people should get some quid pro quo for their money.  They should demand more oversight of financial markets, an investigation of who got us into this mess, and no more golden parachutes for executives of failing firms.  So it seems there's another glaring omission, another elephant in the livingroom: that we have no choice.  We will be taxed to clean up the mess, just like we were in the late '80's with the savings and loan debacle.  And yet we're being advised on what we should demand of lawmakers.  Hmmmm.

    And another omission in all the talk of the financial meltdown is The Iraq War.  Doesn't the fact that the U.S. treasury, after nationalizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and rescuing AIG, must now turn to the taxpayers to bail out the rest of Wall Street, have something to do with the billions of dollars that have been streaming out of this country since we invaded Iraq?  Doesn't it stand to reason that we would have had some kind of a cushion against this bail-out if not for the war? 

    If I'm wrong, I'd love to know.  Just let's talk about this possibility, get it out in the open. 

    And, as usual, it's not enough to rant and rave here on a blog.  I've now got to write to my congresspeople, which is what I recommend to any of you who feel these and undoubtedly more glaring gaps in recent public discourse.    

Comments

[Wally]

One thing you will never see is an acknowledgement that this crisis is a result of the failed economic philosophy of the Republican party. They fail to see the irony of Reagan's mantra: "The government is not the solution to the problem. The govenment is the problem." Now, suddenly, the government is the solution.

By the way, I just finished "Fieldwork". That was an excellent read.

[Tabor]

I watched late yesterday the debacle that was supposed to be the big White House meeting going over the proposed adjusted resolution. The reporters were talking about the three page 'memo' that had first been distributed and now this one page list of bullets that were added regarding the buyout. I compare that brevity of such paperwork to the paperwork that I had to read and understand for the purchase of my house, my car, and my college loan. What are these leaders actually doing?

[ml]

Thinking about your purchase, Tabor, of your house, car, college loan, etc., I'll bet you couldn't have taken on $30 of debt for every $1 down or in equity. Yet that was what Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and Merrill Lynch were carrying on their books last year (New Yorker 9/29/08, pg. 26). The same article, Wally, shows how Reagan Administration relaxed the Depression-era laws restricting big financial firms.

[joared]

Excellent point, ML, that a lot of people owe us an apology.

[mss @ Zanthan Gardens]

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let's run government like a business. And then who comes whining to whom? Oh. We want our free market. We don't want government interference. And then who comes whining to whom?

This is just Bush's last desperate attempt to line the wallets of his friends in the twilight of his reign. What did Paulsen write into the legislation...no court or legislative overview EVER.

And finally this factoid. "The bailout exceeds total lending by the International Monetary Fund *since its inception*. The IMF has loaned $506.7 billion since 1947."

The reaped temporary rewards of their greed while the rest of us suffered. Now they want our help?

[Tabor]

ML, thanks for your post to my blog. You might be interested in reading Soros suggestion...
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d68e10cc-8f45-11dd-946c-0000779fd18c.html?nclick_check=1

[Cowtown Pattie]

It's enough to give me nightmares. What will my kids' future look like. Pretty bleak.

Except I would sing the same lyrics you pointed out, ML: we do have many freedoms that we oh so take for granted.

"Doesn't it stand to reason that we would have had some kind of a cushion against this bail-out if not for the war?"

Just curious to know. Would it also stand to reason that if we had spent less on social programs in the last five years that we'd have a bigger cushion against the bail-out?

If you like to hear an alternative view on the causes of the crisis, one probably not much in vogue among your normal readers, check out this link: http://reason.tv/video/show/626.html. Curious to hear your reaction once you've thoughtfully considered the video.