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LAXITY IN LEADERSHIP
and
DEARTH OF DIRECTION

Washington is bereft of guidance. There is no noticeable national direction emanating either from the White House or the Capitol Building. As the country sinks deeper and deeper into an economic morass, the causation is not being explained to us, nor is there any effort being made to explain how to stop the bleeding.

In the past, presidents have violated the Constitution in order to take momentous, decisive action for the benefit of the entire nation: Jefferson/Louisiana Purchase; Lincoln/habeas corpus; Roosevelt/pre-lend/lease war materiel. There is no contrast of any of these noble actions to the trashing of the Constitution by this Bush Administration, in its expenditure of blood and treasure, for the blatant purpose of promoting strictly business ventures in the Middle East. As we stew in the consequences of these ignoble ventures, following is a reminder of the attending outrages and crises that are sinking us deeper and deeper into depths of indebtedness:

• Anheuser-Busch purchased by Belgian interests.
• Chrysler Building purchased by Arab interests.
• IndyMac Bank is the fifth bank failure this year—and it was not even on the list of 90 that could yet go!
• Bear Stearns bail-out.
• Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on the verge of collapse.
• The devalued dollar.
• One stimulus package, and one to go.
• Rising oil/gas prices.
• Full-gamut toxic imports from China.
• The necessary war abandoned and now collapsing—ass opposed to”
• The black hole of the unnecessary war having sucked up an exorbitant amount of life, limb, blood, bucks and good will.
• China and Japan holding an incalculably dangerous amount of U.S. bonds.

In contrast to the sound of silence emanating from Washington, we hear the booming voice of Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens urging us to begin the serious consideration of the environmentally and politically cleaner use of wind and solar energy. Who would’a thunk it? Certainly, no one in Washington!

I agree that Washington has not lived up to its expectations for most things but I don't agree with the idea that they should step in and save financial companies. Although it is quite necessary in the case of Fannie Mae,Freddie Mac and Bear Stearns, I find most of my discontent with the CEOs of these companies for pushing terrible mortgages and Joe Consumer for willfully accepting those mortgages all in pursuit of keeping up with the Joneses. But if the Gov't thinks its supposed to or tries to swoop in every time some CEO screws up, it ruins the free market idea for which this country was built upon.