PhotoDude.com

Tue. Sep 30, 2008

Rescue The Rescue?

There’s a lot of people worried about losing their jobs today. 435 of them, specifically, in the House of Representatives. Unlike their Senate brethren, they are all up for re-election in November.

And yesterday, they behaved accordingly.

George Bush, Dick Cheney, Henry Paulson, and John Boehner were collectively unable to sway more than 65 House Republicans to vote for their plan (133 voted against).

Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was unable to corral the 95 Democrats who voted against the bill (140 voted for it). She only had to wrangle 12 of them to pass the bill. And apparently didn’t even try when it became clear the Republicans were not falling in line.

Is there no one left who can plan this game?

In 1933, Franklin Roosevelt inherited an economic crisis. He understood that his first job was to restore confidence, to give people a sense that somebody was in charge, that something was going to be done.

This generation of political leaders is confronting a similar situation, and, so far, they have failed utterly and catastrophically to project any sense of authority, to give the world any reason to believe that this country is being governed. Instead, by rejecting the rescue package on Monday, they have made the psychological climate much worse.

And let us recognize above all the 228 who voted no — the authors of this revolt of the nihilists. They showed the world how much they detest their own leaders and the collected expertise of the Treasury and Fed. They did the momentarily popular thing, and if the country slides into a deep recession, they will have the time and leisure to watch public opinion shift against them.

The American century was created by American leadership, which is scarcer than credit just about now.

NY Times: David Brooks, Revolt of the Nihilists

Some are saying that over a dozen GOP votes disappeared due to some allegedly insulting/partisan remarks by Nancy Pelosi. Others suggest the whole thing was rushed to accommodate Jewish religious holidays.

The McCain campaign, which suspended itself to “rush” (over the course of some 21 hours) back to DC to make a deal happen (and, obviously, failed to convince House Republicans, at the very least), is now resorting to saying this failure is the fault of Obama and the Democrats.

In less important events, Washington Mutual has disintegrated, Wachovia wobbled into the arms of Citibank, there are ugly rumors flying about Bank of America, and the stock market dropped 777 points yesterday. But, hey, we understand hurt feelings and religious holidays take priority over such minor troubles.

I don’t pretend to be a macro economic wizard, and you’re not either. We may have some basic financial principles we believe in, and some limited experience in these areas, but the truth is we rely on our leaders to “drive the economy” in ways we cannot.

And today, we have no leaders.

We have a lame duck and apparently disinterested President with a 19% approval rating, a Vice President with a 13% approval rating, and a Congress with a 10% approval rating (all put together, they don’t even add up to 50%). Working together, they created a complete failure.

We have two presidential candidates who cannot scratch their nose without it being parsed for partisan meaning, or used as the basis for some “booger picker” attack by the other side. Almost by definition, no solution can come from either of them (because the other side simply won’t allow it).

And here’s what is perhaps the most perverse aspect. Most of these Representatives claim they voted against the bill because of the burden of cost on taxpayers. Now, they will huddle and figure out which riders and proposals they can add to the existing bill to make it more “palatable” (increasing the FDIC insured amount, dropping capital gains taxes, etc.) … and these riders and proposals will without a doubt add to the total cost of the bill, i.e. “the burden of cost on taxpayers” they just voted against.

But with the addition of new costly proposals, they will then be willing to vote for the bill they voted against earlier in the week, when the total was less.

And then they will tell you they did it all for you.

I feel a bit like a homeowner whose house caught fire in the middle of the night, only to discover that each fire truck does not have enough hose to get from the hydrant to my house. And I’m watching two firemen from different trucks argue whether they should join their hoses together to fight the fire, or wait for a cloudburst that will surely come overhead any moment. Then a city councilman comes by to to tell me my home would be safe if they’d passed his bill to double the number of fire hydrants, and then another stops by to say that’s stupid, it was his bill to double the length of hoses that would have saved me. Meanwhile, a neighbor says he’s not fully convinced my house is on fire at all, as his seems to be fine.

And it just makes you want to shout, “people, if I end up with a pile of ashes instead of a house, I assure you, we will talk about all of these things, in ways you will deeply regret, but right now you should STFU and FIGURE IT OUT!”