Could it be happening right now, between an elected government and corporate banking interests, as Congress works through possible reforms in the financial sector?
I know the healthcare debate was sexier for religious people. Jesus was into healing and all that. White collar crime has never made our blood boil the same way that it does when we see real blood spilled.
But I'm not convinced that the reforms being discussed now in Congress are not more important for this nation and its people than the healthcare reforms. Over the last 30 years, the American government has rolled over in order to allow financial services companies to operate with fewer regulatory barriers. The reasons have been philosophical (free markets, freer movement of capital) and self-interested (the financial services lobby is among the highest spending during campaign season). Democrats and Republicans have been on board with the changes.
What have the American people received in return? It's a serious question.
-Growing income disparity, and more importantly, wealth inequality
-Fewer consumer banking choices
-Insidious and predatory credit card and mortgage industries
-A whole world of new financial "instruments" that make a very few wealthy people even wealthier while contributing nothing to the real economy
-A $14,400,000,000,000 bailout (that's trillion); do know what interesting and truly helpful things our nation could do with $14 trillion dollars?
Wall St. props up a lot of the local New York economy, from retail to housing to entertainment to charitable giving. A lot of jobs are on the line here.
But effective financial regulation will not seriously threaten the long-term health and well-being of Wall St. It just may, however, protect our democratically-elected government from its greatest threat since WWII.
A few key issues to be watching for are posted at Salon.
No comments:
Post a Comment