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LAISSEZ FAILED

At the beginning of the last century, Teddy Roosevelt had to come to the aid of the put-upon populous by corralling in the Robber Barons and busting up the moneyed monopolies. During that century, which was destabilized by two world wars, a long cold war, proxy wars in Korea, Viet Nam and assorted banana republics, this country rose to an economic, military and cultural pinnacle previously unknown on this planet. The elevator that took us to that penthouse was powered by the energy emanating from prodigious advances in science, technology, electronics and marketing.

Politically, we managed to maintain a fair balance of distribution between conservative and liberal concepts. With leaders such as the two Roosevelts, Truman, Kennedy, Carter and Clinton on one side of the balance, and Hoover, Nixon, Reagan and Bush-41 on the other, we managed to weather the century with a certain degree of economic and social equanimity. I left out Eisenhower, because he served as a bright bellwether by warning us against the perils inherent in collusion among political, military, business and financial interests. With the reign of terror of Bush-43 coming to a close as this new century is beginning, we find in our lap the terrible cost to pay—literally—by flouting the Eisenhower dictum.

Not even Eisenhower foresaw the constitutional danger of the Supreme Court’s blatant siding with a political party in order to affect the outcome of a presidential lelection! George W. Bush used 9/11 to encapsulate the American people in an endless pipeline of fear. With supporters and opposition thus controlled, he took charge a pusillanimous congress and dragged the country into a muddle of unnecessary war; oil interests; business deals; misuse of the military; the depletion of the national treasury; the pawning of our patrimony to foreign interests; and worst of all, the senseless sacrifice of the lives; bodies, limbs; eyes; and minds of our dastardly duped young men and women.

A major difference in the conservative and liberal/progressive philosophies is “laissez faire,” or the concept of leaving business alone, to sink or swim according to the skill of management or the whim of the market. That was fine, as long as their existed a political balance to control excesses one way or the other. Egged on by the dangerous Dick Cheney and nefarious Neocons—and apparently fueled by his biblical fantasies—Bush began to establish his own legacy on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates. Perhaps he had visions of planting anew the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. What is not fantastical, are the stacks of no-bid contracts let out to preferred friendlies; the legions of armed soldiers of fortune; a palatial U.S. embassy; multifarious U.S.-funded, civilian- infrastructure projects; over fifty. PERMANENT, U.S. military bases; and the control of Iraqi oil production. Although the term, “oil,” has been verboten when dealing with the “war” in Iraq, as this is being written, we are in the process of working out with the Iraqi government a “status of forces agreement,” which would keep our people free of Iraqi law and give us the lion’s share of Iraqi oil production. While this Eisenhower-warned-against conspiracy has been going on in Iraq, it has been mirrored on the home front by a complete tolerance by the government watch dogs with regard to the shenanigans of the operations of the corporations that hold in their greedy management hands the financial fate of the nation—and a part of the world!

Thus, here we are at this hour, dealing with the greatest economic failure in modern times. The difference in the panic of 1929 and the run on the banks are the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and other controls set in place by the New Deal. After shelling out over half a trillion dollars so far, the president, finance chiefs and leaders of congress are hunkering down, expecting to provide more billions, which will exceed the trillion-dollar mark, hoping to stanch the bleeding permanently.

Almost to our peril, it has been proven that “laissez faire” does not work. Whether it be “lazy fare,” “lesser fare” or “less fair”—“laissez faire” is now defunct. We have learned that strict government controls and oversight are essential if, in a democracy, the people are to be protected from the predators.