Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Fundamentally Sound or Broken?

John McCain recently declared that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong". What news has he been following?

Our government is currently using a "bastardized" socialist model, taking ownership of some of the largest financial institutinos in the world because "they're too big to fail," but what about the taxpayer? So far, we haven't seen what they're doing with that power that will help the taxpayer. Shouldn't they use Fannie and Freddie to declare a moratorium on foreclosures? Most likely, the end result will be the breakup and re-sale to the "free market".

I listened to Naomi Klein today on KUOW. She described the "Shock Doctrine" that has been in use since the 50's to break down many of the social gains of the New Deal. Many don't know that when FDR was campaigning, he had no plan for the New Deal but it was the pressure that "the people" put on him during his campaign and immediately after his victory that led him to make this kind of change. In fact, one of his quotes from his campaign was "immediate and drastic reductions of all public expenditures," "abolishing useless commissions and offices, consolidating bureaus and eliminating extravagances".

I don't know the solution, but I do know I need to read that book, and we need to demand more from our leadership. Now.

No comments: