Been there done that, however I came across one yesterday that got me a little ticked off.
A gentleman by the name of Steven Pearlstein wrote an editorial that showed up in the Washington Post with the catchy headline of “Put The Pitch Forks Down” or something to that effect. He starts off by telling us we are all doomed:
We're angry. We're frustrated. We feel cheated and abused. We're not going to take it anymore. But then again, we don't have much choice, do we? Sure, we can demand that a few more heads roll on Wall Street, or at the Treasury, or that a few hundred million are clawed back from financiers who never deserved it. But the reality is that no matter what we do now, tens of trillions of dollars in wealth have been lost. All that's left is simply an elaborate exercise in settling up the accounts.
He goes on his fatherly manner explaining to us its ok to let the kids in the playground push and shove a little as long as it doesn’t get carried away
I realize that collective expressions of public anger can serve a useful purpose. At times like these, it feels good and is a way for a political system to let off some steam before a more dangerous explosion occurs. More importantly, it builds political momentum for sweeping reform of the regulatory apparatus while scaring the bejeezus out of people on Wall Street, who will now think long and hard the next time they get the urge to take excessive risks with other people's money. But there's a danger in letting this outrage get to the point that it undermines the effort to contain the financial crisis. And with Congress now rushing to pass legislation taxing away the bonuses of every banker at every bank or financial institution that takes government money, that point seems to have been reached.
…..As if Democracy is something to be “contained” before it “undermines” the status quo. His next few paragraphs really got me boiling.
“First, as I've said in the past, this isn't about fairness.”
In a nut shell, he goes on and on in that vein to tell us, fairness be damned this is about getting things back to normal. God forbid the public should scare any one of these poor financiers that got us into this mess. Goodness no we need them… to ummm stimulate the economy and do all the good things they have been doing… that ummm..
….. got us into this mess in the first place?
Yeesh, Mr. Pearlstine put the Kool-Aid down.
By all accounts from reading his article I would say Mr. Pearlstine is a dangerous man. He thinks he knows whats better for you and yours than you. He is a status quo kind of guy that if he would have been alive during the revolution would have argued vehemently against breaking with mother England. Think of the markets, the trade!
400 years ago he would have argued passionately that because the scientific community believed it the world must be flat.
He finsihes his article with this little tid bit:
A final point on outrage: We need to save some of it for ourselves. While it was Wall Street that got rich by peddling new ways for Americans to live beyond their means, the decision to do so was ours. It was we who ran up the credit card bills, we who drew down the equity in our homes and we who refused to tax ourselves for the government services we demanded. Wall Street bankers may have been the pushers, but it was we Americans who became addicted to the easy credit.
There are several points of contention I have with this editorial but none more glaring then that last line. It wasn’t Joe the plumber, Nancy the nanny or anyone else that caused this. It was a small percentage of Americans. Not the majority of Americans who work hard live within there means don’t use their house as an investment decision because the watched a half hour special on flipping houses.
What he fails to understand is, Yes it is about fairness. That’s what democracy is based on. Not some misguided view that if we offend our over lords they will retaliate by not patting us on the head anymore.
Not only can we protest, we should protest, pitch forks and torches blazing. Its not only our right, Its our duty. That, gentle reader is called Democracy.
Mr. Pearlstine would do well to remember that’s the only reason he is able to express his opinion now.
Hang Tough
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