Same old, same old
To the editor:
As a man named Yogi said “Deja vu, all over again.” The pols in D.C. dragged their heels for long enough in last year’s gas price crisis that, lo and behold, the market corrected, as usual. Now the president, the treasury secretary, the fed chairman, and, of course, Congress, are doing the same thing with the current recession. If they play their cards right for long enough the economy is sure to turn around. Then they can all jockey for position and argue about who had the most to do with solving the problem.
Don’t get me wrong, I think they’re doing the right thing. Every time they jump up and pontificate the stock market goes in the tank a little deeper and the average person loses a little more confidence in the “D.C. Brain Trust.” (boy is that an oxymoron.) Obama has the right idea. Use the situation to spend like a drunken sailor and call it a “stimulus.”
In the meantime his treasury secretary is on TV showing his butt to the world. His answer to fixing the mark-to-market rule problem that is killing the banks is “that’s the SEC’s job.” Even Barney Frank is beginning to come around and recognize that maybe they (the pols) were wrong in pushing for the rule in the first place.
I don’t put all the blame on the pols or the administration (past or present) for the current situation. History, economies, and stock markets, have a way of repeating themselves. So far the U.S. economy and the stock market have always recovered from the cyclical downturns – invariably without the help of the politicians in D.C. who imagine themselves some sort of economic gurus.
By the way, can anyone explain to me why Obama says he has to sign a bill containing tons of “pork” because it was leftover by the last administration, but, of course, he won’t allow that in the future? Sounds to me like he’s talking out of both sides of his mouth. But then what do I know, he’s the people’s favorite, for now. Deja vu all over again.
Jim Tanner
Cape Coral