Can We Get Out Of This Mess? Part Five

One of the problems that made economic matters worse was that, earlier on, influential people like Bernanke and Paulson*** were unable to get their arms around the economic problem in order to wrestle it to the ground. There’s no doubt in my mind that a large part of this failure to recognize the economic problems and then to act was due to ideology. Conservatives don’t believe in governmental action, unless of course your name is George W. Bush, and you choose a “preemptive war“ against Iraq. But to engage in “preemptive” actions to stave off economic disaster? Hell no!!! You can’t tamper with the “free markets.” Instead of seeing what was becoming obvious to many Americans already battered by high prices for just about everything, stagnant wages, benefit cuts, foreclosure and the like, these folks consistently UNDERESTIMATED (or turned a blind eye to) the mounting dangers to the American economy. Even just last summer, Bernanke and the Federal Reserve continued to harp on the possibility of inflation spiraling out of control. Oh yes, prices had been escalating,^^^ but that “free market” ideology said, “We can’t control prices on ANYTHING, because that’s against free market principles.” Even if those high prices are strangling many American families and thus the American economy?+++ Of course, in order to try to solve a problem, one must first admit that there IS a problem and get the diagnosis of the problem correct. Just imagine if you went to the doctor with a severe headache and the doc said, “The REAL problem you’ve got is that you have corns on both feet.”

The failure to see the mounting problems, and then the misdiagnosis of the problems led the Fed and the Bush Administration to do nothing at first, but it seems that their “free market” minds couldn’t see how severe the problems really were, leaving the severity of the problems terribly underestimated, as well as misdiagnosed (“Take two corn removal pads and call me in the morning!”).


NOTE: I'm working on Part Two of "Why Do We Call Them These Names" for "Word Histories," and it will be posted separately.

*** And even earlier, Greenspan. When the history of this era is written, Greenspan may get a good deal of blame, as halting a problem early on is often easier than letting it fester.

^^^In my opinion, driven much higher by greedy speculative investors with too much money on their hands. I’m telling you folks, you can’t give them more money through huge tax cuts and expect that they’ll suddenly donate their savings to “The Mother Theresa Society” or to the “Mahatma Gandhi School of Non Violent Public Protest.” Currently, many of those who benefited by this speculative behavior are still in the process of defending it by saying that prices were driven higher by “supply and demand,” that good old free market standby. These “free marketers” just seem unable to admit that free market systems have a downside to them. They don’t get it, just like the bankers and officers of many companies now in meltdown who still feel “entitled” to huge bonuses. And the conservatives have the nerve to say that many other Americans have a sense of “entitlement;” and that’s over basic subsistence, not mo’ money, mo’ money, mo’ money! One part of the “free market” philosophy these folks seem to forget, is that part about “merit based compensation and job retention.” Using their own “principles,” these corporate bigwigs, and also members of the Federal Reserve and the Bush Administration, would have been terminated.

+++For those in need of special medications to help them stay alive, the free market philosophy says, “Sorry to hear that, but we’ll send flowers to your funeral.” Most are too hypocritical to say such a thing openly, because I hope that inside them they know they’re wrong, but their greed overrules any inclination toward humanity. This “never wrong” free market crap has just provided them with an excuse.