I think this is a message most if not all American’s can get behind right now. Regardless of if you are on the right, left, center, Democrat or Republican, I think we can all agree the system is not working very well and all it is doing is pitting everyone against each other.
Rather there is real conviction behind Rep. Reichert or just the need for a good sound bite, I applaud the message.
Many people, myself included, have been looking back at the Financial Crisis of 2008 and asking the question, "What the hell happened?" The information landscape of finance is a difficult one made even more difficult by political agendas. Having interest in both financial markets and politics I have been reading and listening to many sources to try and understand the event. Even though I spent three years at Fidelity Investments as a brokerage trader, had my series 6, 63, 7, and 4 licenses to trade securities, and being a political junkie for the last 15 years, I would not call myself an expert in either arena. What I do well is listen to very smart people and evaluate their arguments and their evidence calmly and rationally to come to a conclusion about an issue.
Due to the complexity of this particular issue I have chosen to share with you all the sources I have used to inform myself and my opinions rather than create a summary or specific conclusion. I think it is extremely important for us as citizens to understand to the best of our ability the events that shape, and shock, the world in which we live so that we may have the most accurate understanding of the forces at work. Even if we are unable to derive 100% concrete conclusions.
To begin, I would suggest you start with the following podcast:
Russ Roberts on the Crisis – Russell Roberts is Professor of Economics and the J. Fish and Lillian F. Smith Distinguished Scholar at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Roberts has a clear style of speaking that provides a great place to start. He doesn’t lose his audience with technical jargon and even shares the possible concerns as to why his theories could be incorrect (a sign of someone that is after the truth). If you prefer to read instead of listen, this podcast is based on his paper Gambling with Other People’s Money, feel free to start there instead.
After you have listened to Roberts, you may desire more as I did. Here are other sources to get more insight, analysis, opinions, and perspectives on this issue:
SHOWS:
PBS FRONTLINE: Inside the Meltdown
PBS FRONTLINE: Breaking the Bank
PODCASTS:
EconTalk and John Taylor
EconTalk and Charles Calomiris
EconTalk and and many other thought leaders discussing the crisis
BOOKS:
Bailout Nation: How Greed and Easy Money Corrupted Wall Street and Shook the World Economy
A Failure of Capitalism: The Crisis of '08 and the Descent into Depression
House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street
I have to give credit to President Obama and Congress today. This past week Congress and the President passed H.R. 5146 -To provide that Members of Congress shall not receive a cost of living adjustment in pay during fiscal year 2011. With an approval rating standing at 20% you would hope these people at least have a hard time voting themselves a raise, and it appears most do. Rather this is a true moral decision on their part or political posturing is yet to be seen. I give a great deal of credit to Rep. Harry Mitchell (D-AZ) for sponsoring this bill. While it is a move congress had to make or lose the small amount of trust American’s still have in them, it is little more then a moral victory for us tax payers. With Representatives and Senators making $174,000 dollars a year, the extra $1,600 they will miss out on by voting down their pay raise will not be felt by any of them (unless they are as reckless with their personal finances as they are with the country’s).
While I give credit to those who sponsored, co-sponsored and voted “Yea” on this bill, I am also left to question the 15 Democrat Representatives who voted “Nay.” I am happy none of my Representatives where in this group of 15. If your representative is in the list of “Nay” or “Abstains” votes below I hope you are questioning them on why they feel they deserver a pay raise with a 10% unemployment number and congressional approval rating of 20%.
We all know what busy work is. The boss is around and we need to look busy but we don’t really have much work to do, so we find busy work. These are things you do that, while technically cause you to work, are not really meaningful. If your boss actually saw the work you were doing, the questions about how useful it is would quickly follow, but you look busy so your boss has no reason to actually ask what you are doing.
Congress is littered almost everyday with this type of work. They sit in session to handle busy work. Work that makes them look busy but really is just stopping them from tackling bigger issues. Bills like the following:
H.Res.1270 - Expressing support for Mathematics Awareness Month.
I could go on and on but you get the point I think. While there is nothing wrong with these bills it is really just busy work. These bills make no difference in America. Are we really paying these people in Washington to express support for mathematics, or Sam Houston’s life, or to congratulate the latest college sports team for winning the national championship?
They are meaningless because everyone agrees with these things. On resolutions like these everyone says “aye.” I applaud the few (very few) congressman who say “nay” on these based on the principle it should never have come before congress in the first place.
We elected these people to create bills, resolutions and laws that help uphold and support these ideals, not spend the day agreeing they are important. Are they ever reprimanded for this busy work? Hardly ever, because “we the people”, the boss, normally never even ask what they are doing. Maybe we stopped because it got to complicated and hard to follow but we can change this fact. The real question is do we have it in us to start following what our employees are doing and making them eliminate the busy work?
To do this we must first start following what our congressmen are doing. This must go way beyond listening to the news or commercials every few years when it is time to cast a vote. There are many resources out there like Open Congress to help us. Let us start following what they are doing in Washington, for once we become educated we can start making a difference.
I thought this worth reposting...
545 PEOPLE
By Charlie ReesePoliticians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them. Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits? Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?
You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does. You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does. You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does. You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does. You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country. I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-pickingthing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.
Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party. What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it. The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair. If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red . If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.
There are no insoluble government problems. Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.
Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible. They, and they alone, have the power. They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses. Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.
We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!
