An answer to: “Obama calls Wall St. bonus binge shameful”

BY:Dr.Benevolence

Outgoing President Bush sat glumly on Inauguration Day as President Obama proclaimed a new era of liberty and justice for all — a proclamation that brought global acclaim and new hope to many. Sitting in the cold air Bush may have reflected on his own pledges eight years before. On his 2001 Inaugural Day he promised to make our country “more just and generous.” We would pursue the “simple dream of dignity,” never passing by “that wounded traveler on the road to Jericho.” Spurning any temptation to “arrogance” our nation would be bound by ideals that “lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens.” In so doing we would “affirm a new commitment” to the principles of “civility, courage, compassion and character.” Just think of it: In their posh offices on Wall Street, financial elites must have been have been holding their sides in derisive laugher.

There is little doubt that Bush had a great opportunity. He acknowledged that while “many of our citizens prosper, others doubt the promise, even the justice, of our country.” He seems to have sensed the right way but couldn’t walk the walk. To remarkable applause he castigated injustice: “We do not accept this, and we will not allow it. …[T]his is my solemn pledge: I will work to build a single nation of justice and opportunity.”

As things turned out not only did both parties’ leaders allow injustice, they nearly tripped over themselves in a rush to accelerate it under the handy-dandy label of “growth.” Everything that the prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah once decried, this nation did! Bush’s inaugural address turned into a demagogue’s oration. If it wasn’t outright dissembling it was at least smoke and mirrors — the type of thing that exhausts a nation and eventually denigrates hard earned republican liberties. The elites that influenced Bush’s handlers certainly got the better of the knowledge-needy executive. No wonder Bush looked melancholic during the Obama speech: He may have been visualizing himself as a pawn.

Obama is only days into his new administration. He has precious little time to assert his admirable dreams and moral conscience before Wall Street’s strategies put the credibility of his administration on a track toward ruination. The pressure on the president must be incredible. His wizard-counselors are giving him no options but to rebuild Wall Street and keep the beast alive. This should serve as a reminder to all who aspire to the office of U.S. President: Don’t apply unless you’ve groomed a prudent and resourceful intellectual army from which you can populate the appointive offices and critical stations.

Obama understands the idea of economic justice. He is a good man and capable, too. His views on fairness are laudable compared to Bush’s ill-conceived notions of compassionate conservatism. But Obama achieved his high station by catering to financial elites quite like Bush — a dangerous concession for a politician. Thus, Obama faces the serious challenge of finding a presidential way to be the new era leader he wants to be.

On January 27 Obama declared the massive 2008 Wall Street bonuses as “shameful.” He said they were “the height of irresponsibility.” But if his words are to mean more than Bush’s empty pledges, he must do something other than plunge headlong into plans to make Wall Street whole again. There are knowledgeable observers in the media, especially at MarketWatch.com, who are offering reformative ideas and alternative leaders in counterpoint to the ideas and people Wall Street puts forth. Are the admirable efforts of these media watchdogs falling on deaf ears in the Obama administration? Congress is certainly not providing much help. Indeed, the Republican minority is back to political posturing and busted notions about more tax cuts for special interests rather than advocating bipartisan efforts to find alternatives to the Wall Street model.

If President Obama is not dissembling when he calls Wall Street’s actions “the height of irresponsibility,” then he has a responsibility as the nation’s Chief Legislator to make irresponsible parties pay for their dereliction of duty. Make Wall Street elites drag their own assets out of offshore tax havens to pay for the repair of institutions they blighted. If these people behaved shamefully in their stewardship, as Obama attests, then redirect the stewardship to more responsible fiduciaries who will not exploit the public interest for sordid gains.

During the Obama campaign there was talk of Obama as a new President Lincoln or a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. If, however, Obama does not stand up to Wall Street he will go down in history as another failed Bush. Early in the Bush presidency his popularity ratings were the highest in modern history. There is nothing so unique about Obama that his high standing will hold up if he cannot deliver on his promises of real justice.

True justice demands that those who plunged headlong into leverage in a covetous rush for greater wealth should bear the burden in making the economy whole again. Wall Street should be replaced by better stewards if justice is served. Credible and responsible banks in other parts of the country should be given the investment banking franchise that Wall Street abused. Responsible banks are the ones that should receive fresh capital, not the Wall Street banks that made and then lost billions unscrupulously. Americans need to press upon their elected representatives the idea of true justice until politicians find the resolve to do the right thing, even if it means wading through a depression. Better to suffer while the bones are set straight than to allow the current deformities to continue.

The door is closing on our one big chance to break the chains of Wall Street and the Federal Reserve. If we do not deliver ourselves now while Wall Street remains off balance, we will have little right to expect safe passage as the beast regains its strength. The battle in a few years will be much more costly to American tranquility and republicanism than one fought prudently now. The new president needs America’s prayers. He also needs people around him who are committed to real justice, not in the politicized sense but in courage, decency and truth.
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