Ham Next Year

They’ve picked through the carcass of an old and dry bird leaving it boneless and bare. Instead of a turkey, the banking industry decided they’d dine on a bald eagle. This seems to be the point of view that the financial industry has taken since they are using taxpayer money to prop back up the plummeting economy. The subprime mortgage crisis coupled with the lack of faith in commercial paper markets further fed the recession we are facing. The concept of a free market has been absolutely leveled with the government’s philosophy on sustaining failing enterprises.

What bothers me most however is the lack of oversight that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson failed in carrying out. After all, his job is to act as the watchdog and notify the president of what he notices. Paulson’s connections also raise alarms. He is friends with many of the bailout recipients since his previous job was CEO of Goldman Sachs.

He implored the president and congress on the passage of the United States Emergency Economic Stabilization Fund, injecting $700 billion dollars into the worsening banks. The passage of this act essentially gave him the authority to write blank checks to his banking buddies at the tax payers’ expense. The $700 billion estimate seemed a bit on the short side with the number continuing to increase. The financial bailout is now considered the most expensive U.S. expenditure ever totaling $7.5 trillion. That’s half of last year’s gross domestic product. This graph shows how tremendous the cost is to us.

I understand that hindsight is 20/20 and that it’s a naïve to believe that one man is responsible for this entire mess. But I’m feeling it right now in the depreciation of my retirement funds and the job-loss experienced by my neighbors. It’s hurting all of us. Paulson unwittingly became my personal scapegoat with his declaration in July of 2007 that the subprime mortgage crisis didn't pose any threat to the economy. In my psyche, I need a single fallible foil on whom to direct my resentment. Fueled by the unsettling image of a scavenger feasting on my 401k, Paulson turned into my ideal vulture.

Q: Are we there yet? A: I said yes if only you had paid attention.

The following soap-box rant was in response to this post.

I think your view is overwhelming pessimistic for the president-elect. Both candidates had made their views what they would have enacted. You could have viewed their stance on major issues that ran the gamut of education to the war in Iraq on their websites (McCain and Obama).


I do not agree with you on the concept that the candidates were sidestepping major issues. Both candidates, along with the American public, are fully aware of the developing financial crisis. Our fears have been echoed in our sinking retirement plans and the reductio ad absurdum belief that we’ll be soon dwelling in hoovervilles. The financial issue is the primary problem the public is facing, not the distant and unjustified war in Iraq.


Could you please quantify who you believe is “qualified” in the role of president? You’ve stated that you disliked both candidates, but failed to elaborate on what traits define a good president. You had also made the claim that previous presidents only know how to run the county and I'm of the belief that this does not qualify or give merit to our current commander-in-chief based on the examples of the botched Katrina disaster and the baseless Iraq war.


This election is historic on many levels by just looking at the context of our current situation: We’re currently engaged in costly wars on two fronts. The United States is in a major financial crisis. Unemployment rates are the highest they’ve been in 14 years, and to the rest of the world the ideal of America had distorted from the protector to the bully. Barack Obama will be the first black president in an age that people still have recent memories of the civil rights movement. I believe that's enough to deem it historic. It’s refreshing to think that someone has thoughts on getting us out of this ever-deepening hole, instead of using a “dig-deeper” approach.