Josh Buckner

Here’s where I think the tea parties really missed a huge opportunity: bailouts. I heard a lot of talk about wasteful spending, skyrocketing debt, and unjust taxes; I didn’t hear much about the gigantic sums of taxpayer money going straight to failed banks run by highly questionable CEOs. Oh, and good luck getting any details on what all that bailout money is being used for.

Why doesn’t this piss you off? This is why some on the Left suspect sinister theories that the Wall St. elites are secretly using your tea party protests to divert attention away from the sweet deal that they’re getting. (For the record, I don’t believe this in the strict sense. However I do think that they egg you on from the background, like a coward tries to instigate a fight in order to avoid getting in one himself.)

At least with the stimulus bills, we’re getting concrete things that will directly improve our quality of life. I’m positive that some politicians used it as an opportunity to return favors and fund prestige projects, but by and large that was not the case. Unemployment benefits and health services help us regular folks. I’m not so sure about this steaming pile of bailouts, bonuses, and plans to buy up toxic assets.

Are conservatives afraid to protest the crooks in the private sector? Don’t wanna seem too Ralph Naderish? Members of government and private industry are both tainted in this economic crisis.  So let’s reform government (Treasury, Dodd, etc.) and reform financial regulations. And let’s decide whether we’re going to force these banks to reform (As in resigning executives, deconsolidation) or let them fail. No more half-steppin. I’d like to think that, for all that we’ve lost in this recession, we’ve at least purchased the knowledge to prevent it from happening again.

The Baseline Scenario is a source I trust for unbiased information about the economy.

Posted in: Politics by Josh Buckner / Tags: bailout, business, economy, protest, recession, reform, tax