If it was only about numbers, this economic "correction" would be interesting. The daily fluctuations in stock indices, currencies, commodity prices, and other markers create a set of mathematical patterns that I, for one, find fascinating, albeit in a gruesome sort of way.
But, setting aside all of the theoretical aspects that stimulate curious minds, the state of our hearts is another matter.
As politicians like to say, "real people are feeling pain." I guess that means that those privileged enough to get through hard times virtually unscathed, are "unreal" people. maybe so.
I'm just worried about the real people I know. The tension is everywhere; I myself am wound as tightly as a drum these days. People close to me are being thrown out of work; families are trying to balance whether to cut health care or education costs for their kids.
Lots of people are putting off going to the doctor, dentist, or other provider. The concept of working on one's mental health is a distant fantasy.
We're all getting jumpy. Who will be next to get chopped up and spit out by our capitalist machine? The risks of suicide rise in hard times. The collection blood pressure of a society rises to dangerous levels.
Street crimes return to neighborhoods that have seemed safe for years. Cars get broken into. Muggings return. Ever more people lose their homes, their cars, their livelihoods.
That's reality for real people. And they say his thing is just getting underway...
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Conservative philosophy recoils at the thought of increased government control of, and interference with, private industry. The proposals supporting bail out to the U S auto makers are calling for virtual control; appointing a “Car Czar”, dictating so called “green” products, requiring direct approval of purchases over 25 million dollars, and insufferable interference in labor/management relations – all directed and controlled by the greatest financial failure in the history of the planet... Congress.
Whatever the politics motivating each of the dissenting senators (including 10 democrats), the recognition that this congress has already overreached its constitutional authority, and now proposes to trample upon the spirit of the document, was woven into the fabric of their dissent.
If you caught some of the hearings with Barney Frank's committee grilling the current and past CEOs of Freddy and Fanny, you are no doubt aware that primary blame for the devastating failure of those two institutions was largely due to overreaching legislation which forced the promulgation of bad loans. Such was the defense made in carefully scripted words from each of the four in turn. It is clear to many of us that such abuse of legislative authority produced the recent collapse of the credit markets.
Our history is replete with examples of attempts to use government to supplant the natural will of people in the conduct of free enterprise. Among the most misunderstood is the Franklin Roosevelt “New Deal”.
Through his first two terms of office, Roosevelt utterly failed to overcome the great depression... Employment numbers were larger in 1939 than they were in 1931. What he did well was restore hope, something which should not be underestimated. But he did not “fix” the economy. WWII restarted the economy.
While enormous infusions of cash might otherwise effect a cure of sorts, I have little confidence that congress, under the influence of Pelosi, Reid, Frank, Dodd, and their ilk, will accomplish much. We have ample reason to worry now.
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