A Lack Of Leadership

Well, the big $700 billion bail-out of Wall Street went down in flames yesterday. One-third of the Democrats and two-thirds of the Republicans in the House of Representatives voted against the bailout, making it come up about 13 votes short.

Voices on both the right and the left were quick to denigrate those who voted no on the bail-out, but I can understand them. Like it or not, we have an election coming up, and approving the bail-out could be electoral suicide for many of them.

The American people simply do not like this huge bail-out. Congressmen are getting calls and letters running 30 or 40 to 1 against it (and the people who take the time to call or write are very likely to vote). Polls also show the depth of voter discontent with the bail-out bill.

If the bail-out is really necessary, then our political leaders of both parties have failed to present a compelling case for it to the American people. Ordinary voters are hurting in this economy, with their wages stagnating while price of nearly everything has rapidly climbed.

They have watched as corporations ship their jobs overseas and reward their executives with multi-million dollar bonuses and golden parachutes. It used to be that investment in a companiy's stock allowed that company to expand over the long-term and everyone (including workers) benefited.

But recently, the corporate executives are interested only in the short-term profit and padding their own wallets. People are not stupid. They see this and they are angry. Now the corporate and banking mistakes have come home to roost. Since the corporations have done little or nothing to help voters, the voters are now ready to return the favor and do nothing to help the corporations and banks.

Frankly, it's hard to threaten people who have far less than $100,000 in a checking and savings account, with the possibility of bank failures. They know what little money they have is protected by the FDIC. After the way banks have treated their smaller customers for years, they will now get very little sympathy from them.

If our leaders really think this bail-out is necessary, they're going to have to do a much better job of presenting this to the American people. Right now, they think the "fat cats" are getting what they deserve. I'm not at all sure I don't agree with them.

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This is the 2,000th post on this blog. I guess that is some sort of accomplishment. When I started in March of 2006, I had no idea I would ever get to 2,000. I want to thank the readers and commenters who have helped me by being there. I hope to give you another 2,000.