The Individual Will Solve Our Nation's Problems

Lately I seem to be taped out for anything new to talk about. The same major problems are still with us in the United States today, as is our lack of leadership in this country to solve them. I remember one lecture in particular from one of my history professors at the University of Cincinnati about 20th century England. Dr. Vogel was making the case that England had lost so many of its future leaders in World War I, that when Hitler came around in 1933, there was not the leadership available to deal with the problems he presented for all of Europe. As I have said before, analyzing history must take several factors into consideration, as a single factor, while it may be very significant is seldom the whole story.

Vietnam cost the United States many of its future leaders as well. While the U.S. did not suffer the losses of the magnitude of the British losses during the First World War, the United States nevertheless lost a lot of good men. These good men would no doubt have filled many of the leadership positions in our government today.

Here we are starting the third quarter of 2008 and the economic problems this nation is dealing with are almost too much to believe. How could a country that was growing so nicely, with its share of bumps in the road during the 1990’s turn on a dime and head off in the wrong direction. Certainly the energy problem has been with us for a long time, but the more recent political events, such as the “war” in Iraq, has changed the market’s perception as it relates to the flow of the supply of oil. Add to this the increased usage by emerging economies and with that growth the demand for more energy. The leadership in the United States with regards to the energy policy of this country has been a no show. While the government sits on their collective hands, or points to the other party, people, ordinary people will make the necessary changes to reduce our dependency on oil. Man power in the form of bicycles is taking a bigger role in some parts of the country. Scooters, that get 70 miles per gallon of gas, are also taking a bigger piece of the transportation equation. Perhaps the country will get a health dividend by more bicycle riders as the elevated heart rate from riding a bike will certainly make those individuals healthier people.

The housing crisis is back in the news with Congress actually trying to do something to keep people in their homes. But not too fast, politics must play out this drama as well. Can any bill be spared the add-ons that have nothing to do with the main purpose of the bill? Not in your lifetime they can’t. So, while families try to hang on to their homes, the politicians play politics with the lives of ordinary people. Pass the fucking housing bill and do the right thing for once without all the extraneous bullshit add-ons that having absolutely nothing to do with housing.

The Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank spoke this morning about the need to put in place better systems to prevent the financial panics that we recently had on Wall Street. Banks and investment banks need more and better supervision from the Fed. Naturally, Wall Street’s first reaction is to say this will cut into profitability. It may, this is true, but what is the alternative, more financial disasters? It reminds me of a pickup basketball game on the playground where fouls get out of hand until someone gets seriously hurt, and then everyone starts pointing their finger at where it all began. Computers have changed Wall Street. Computers have changed what can be done today in financial markets. Regulation and oversight by a central bank ready to deal with the creativity of the financial markets in the 21st century is not an option in my opinion. This is an issue on par with our national security. The rest of the world has already changed the authority of their central banks to deal with the changes that have made over-the-counter trading such an enormous world wide phenomena. In short, we do not need another major financial crisis, at least not right away.

In the final analysis people, the individual, will bring us through our crisis as it relates to our economy. Government has a bad reputation when it comes to getting things done quickly. They deserve the contempt that the people show towards it because they do not put the good of the people first. But, that said, we still need to talk and write what we think should be done. We may not get everything we want, but with effort, we will get some of the legislation that is needed to bring about a solid recovery and prepare the country for its future.

A word to our friends in Saudi Arabia. The United States is not perfect, but we have been there for you when you needed us. Think of us as the decimal point in a line of numbers, separating the positive numbers from the negative numbers. All the numbers may be Arabic numerals, but without the decimal point you have nothing. Keep that in mind the next time you count your money.

Stay tuned.