Shocked, Shocked

It was reported that Alan Greenspan, the former Fed Chairman, was amazed that major American banks failed to police their business practices and so helped to speed the sub prime mortgage recession, a weak misnomer I doubt will last the test of time. No doubt the honorable Mr. Greenspan was also surprised that it took decades, even generations, before leading US corporations began to clean up their acts regarding pollution of the environment. They did so only because public opinion would no longer permit them to deny the facts on the damage they had done, hidden, belittled and finally admitted. Even so they fought like tigers with stockholder money to reduce their alleged deadly responsibility. Does it come as much of a surprise to learn that Americans are not alone in this overall failure of governance and regulation? 'Fraid not. We're learning in Japan that when all the radioactive dust settles it will be discovered that costly reactor repairs were sacrificed to profit or expediency. The abundant dollars for the promotion of new construction, presented by the ubiquitous lobbyists, of course, trumped the cautionary calls for prudence and extra safety measures. The latter cut into profits, don't they? No one can even guess today at the cost of Japan's nuclear reactor problems. Indeed, it may take years to find out. I wonder if we Americans will ever discover how much the Republican Party's perpetual and ongoing efforts to relieve Big Business of any responsibility except to maximize shareholder profits has cost the nation. Tea Partyers don't care and the Republican leadership is doing everything possible to undue the small start made by the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, to say nothing of Elizabeth Warren's efforts to give consumers some relief from the predatory practices of the credit card companies. They have placed the responsibility for the whole mess on Big Government that has undermined business confidence. This line of attack is familiar to people who have watched Republican strategists go after John Kerry's medals and Max Cleland's patriotism. It's called turn the truth upside down by telling the biggest lies you can think up. In the question today, if there was insufficient regulation to prevent a financial meltdown in the US and a real nuclear one in Japan, spread the word that regulation is the real enemy and get some Texas zillionaire to produce some witnesses (what's Joe The Plumber doing theses days?) to support the claim. Democracy is a wild ride, that's for sure. I'll be the one shocked, however, if the truth doesn't win out in the end.

Bring in the Witches? Opportunists? Bullies? Clowns?

A president of one of America's finest universities, where I am one of the most humble graduates, once said that a major purpose of a liberal arts education was to provide a "catholic" understanding of men. I knew he wasn't expecting me to genuflect, but catholic is a tricky word. As an adjective, it means universal. What I didn't learn about men at that wonderful monastery where I enjoyed (too much) four years, I picked up in 2 years in the US Army and 10 years on Wall Street. Nothing in my experience, now running to 77 years, explains, however, what I am seeing in American public life today. I am able to make a nice literate reference that Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Eric Cantor, of Virginia have, like Cassius, lean and hungry looks, but I can't really understand their patently rapacious and opportunistic attitudes. Have their genes been altered or their brains been tinkered with, a la the Manchurian Candidate?



Here, in the deep South, bumper stickers like "Stop Socialism" are seen frequently. President Obama himself admitted to some overreach when he rushed to prevent an economic meltdown in the early months of his presidency, but he has not taken over the nation's banks any more than he has taken over the auto industry or the American health care industry. Those are deliberate and despicable Republican canards, like the birther issue, aimed at deceiving the public and undermining his presidency with an eye to the 2012 national elections.



If anyone wishes to see crystal clear overreaching, look at what is happening in Wisconsin, Ohio and Illinois and the House of Representatives in Washington, DC. Claiming just to be doing the will of the people, as expressed in the midterm elections last November, Republicans have abandoned "Jobs, Jobs, Jobs" to balance the budget on the backs of the middle class by attempting to eliminate collective bargaining and emasculate unions. In the process, they'd like to strike out at some old ideological enemies like the Pro Choice movement and the teachers union, despite the fact that one poll after another has revealed strong public support of collective bargaining. The voters are still focused on jobs, but key Republicans are at it again trying to wreck what they missed the last time they achieved power. It's amazing. Why? They know only miniscule savings can be achieved without cutting defense, social security, or medicaire and raising (heaven forbid) taxes on the rich. In reality, they really want simply to posture and play games, anything but govern or work copperatively in a time of budget crisis for which they are largely responsible.

My take on this is that just a few people, wrongly inspired, can make a big difference, the old Army of One theme. In this case the culprits are Mr. Walker, the governor of Wisconsin and Eric Cantor, the number 2 man in the House, who are both so eager to assume even higher office that they might as well be carrying signs. It isn't Karl Rove or the Koch brothers implementing a grand strategy, it's just pure greed and opportunism. The hell with jobs, who cares about stalling the recovery, let's just act in our own personal best interests. If gilding your creds as a conservative Republican means a putsch against unions, so be it. If dumping still another Speaker of the House means Eric can shine brighter still, who cares about the institution or the nation? It's selfishness and stupidity beyond belief and it gives Democrats an unexpected way to rebound from their humiliation last November. Don't worry, Republican friends, if President Obama is re-elected and the U. S. Senate stays in the Democratic column in 2012, you can count on their lack of discipline and cohesion to bring about a backlash to a backlash until we start electing people who aren't witches, mama grizzlies, and unfit opportunists. Until then the clowns look good to me.