Commentary

Republicans Had Better Weed

Are these guys high? As the debate in Congress over the
$700 billion financial system bailout rages on, I’m seeing
the same ideological arguments playing out in Washington
that always surface as Democrats lock horns with Republicans.
This is not the run-up to the Iraq war; there’s no doubt that
serious damage is being done to the US. Yet, these over-paid
twits are debating the same issues. Then again, I guess I
wouldn’t be in such a big rush if I had their sweet pay and
benefits package.

Some progress has been made. According to the NY Times,
the Bush administration gave in to Congressional Democrat’s
demands for strict oversight of the bailout program and assistance
for homeowners on the brink of foreclosure. They were also close
to agreeing on a way for taxpayers to receive ownership in financial
companies that want to dump their impaired debt in the government’s
lap.

But, they’re still shouting it out over pay limits for bigwigs at firms
that wish to feed from the government’s trough and granting bank-
ruptcy judges the power to lower mortgage payments in order to
keep borrowers from losing their homes.

The bursting of the housing bubble exposed a financial system that
is rotten to the core, and it poses a huge threat to our standard of
living. The difference between the lead-up to the Iraq fiasco and
the current financial meltdown is that the latter is occurring right
before our eyes- no need for fancy spy satellite images here.

The Republicans were definitely smoking better weed, believing
that all forms of regulation were both unnecessary and evil. The
Democrats were a bit high as well because they sat idly by as Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac morphed into monstrous beasts (they were in
charge for two years and did nothing but rake in money from the
twin mortgage giants’ lobby machine).

A workable bill that stops the carnage is needed, but it must not
let fools go unpunished, or leave taxpayers to twist in the wind. The
ideological battles that have raged in Washington have prevented
sensible regulation from being crafted when it was desperately
needed, contributing in no small way to the crisis we now face.
Disaster can only be avoided if both sides grow up and put down
their bongs right now so that responsibility to the public can be
placed before the desire to score political points- or pizza.

© 2008 Splendid Marbles.