送交者: 没空 于 October 01, 2008 16:45:42:
开车上班想了些最近发生的事，供校友饭余茶后打发时间。
The failure of administration’s bail-out plan supported by the bipartisan leaders of the Congress and both presidential candidates is not an accident if we take into consideration what this administration has done to its credibility and trust before and during the Iraq War. After 9/11, anger and fear were played up by the administration, so much so that we were led to believe that Iraq was the key to terrorism, and by invading Iraq, we would take out Ben Laden and his followers so as to protect the country from harm and protect our civilization form the clash of another civilization. It indeed worked magic-- nothing works better than blatant patriotism during a crisis like 9-11. Even people as smart as Sen. Clinton were misled.
The rest is history now.
Fast-forward to September, 2008. There is a lot of fear of this economic meltdown, and the fear of this credit crisis is so real (感谢霍兄把这个问题解释翻译得很透彻). Once again, we see America in similar mode and mood to those we witnessed post-9/11, albeit for entirely different reasons. Hence, people who are bitterly reminded of that particular past in both parties and among the party-less are seeing the same old “fear” gimmicks by this administration all over again. They are saying: don’t you scare me THIS time out of my wits, and let the Wall Street pay for what they are responsible for. Punish those that deserve the punishment.
I see the logic in this kind of thinking and the voices heard in the political games played and being played in the Capitol, although sadly I have to admit, privatizing profits and socializing losses have been an inevitable path set up by trickle-down Regan(omics) and the succeeding presidents (including Pres. Clinton), which was only intensified by this administration (including McCain, although I may like his leadership in some other stuff he did in the Senate). After the Clinton administration, the D word as in “deregulation” had become a vogue for politicians.
Buried in the recent media hoopla, however, was this piece of news that did not get much attention. 200+ economists have signed a document, subscribing to the belief that, despite what has happened to a few humongous blue-chip banks, despite the real recession we are experiencing now, and despite the slowing of credit lending, a key lubricant to this giant economic machine, we might not need this 700 billion bail-out package to rescue the greedy and irresponsible after all. They are saying the hurt we are experiencing is just a normal part of the market economy. They are asking, why rushing to rescue and what is the rationale of this rush? I do not pretend that I am knowledgeable enough for the system, but 200+ of them? The sheer number makes me think twice.
As intellectuals, maybe one of our responsibilities is indeed to think as contrarians, and constantly challenge what seems so right and so inevitable, even though, alas, we all will eventually have to pay for the loss of some irresponsible and greedy capitalists, big and small.