Change Before Depression (Bob Franken)

Here's the new campaign slogan for both presidential candidates: "Change? Maybe it's too late."

That's what it should be, if our politicians were being honest. Of course, they're not. I say "of course" because we Americans have finally realized that we've been played like fools. The trust that's needed to keep us together has been dissolved by the decades of toxic dishonesty. As a nation, as an economy, we are coming unglued.

When the presidential-wannabes talk about change, their proposals fall so pathetically short of what we need to do as a country, one could argue it wouldn't really matter if Sarah Palin took power. She may be vacant, but so what? She's no emptier than the promises the others are making.

We need some blame-placing here, and some robust corrective action. Gosh darn it. I hate to say this, Sarah (May I call you Sarah?), but you have a point. If that point is that Joe Six-Pack and the rest of us have allowed ourselves to be lulled into careless and misplaced trust in a system that became incomprehensible to all but those who exploited it. We have been suckered by the hustlers who tossed us a few crumbs as they stole the rest of the dinner. They don't call them the fat cats for nothing.

What's tragic is that once again we've discovered that slick doesn't necessarily mean capable. Our economy is collapsing because its foundation is a culture of incompetence

So sadly, that "experience" so many tout is malevolent experience, used by those who have it to clumsily enrich themselves at everyone else's expense.

That does NOT mean, as you seem to argue, Sarah, that we should reject the concepts of intellect and knowledge. Those are good things, properly utilized. We should not permit ourselves to be consumed by any Revolution of the Ignorant. We have seen too many historic calamities where careless leaders fanned the flames. To further their own ambitions, they incited those who had been worn down into an emotional state where they were willing, even anxious, to search for dangerous expedients or scapegoats. We don't need that again.

IF rescuing our society is still doable, it will require more than the kind of small change our aspiring leaders are whispering about.

First of all, prosecutors and investigators must pursue all those shady operators who made their millions, and sometimes billions, by operating and benefiting from a secretive financial system that most closely resembled Enron. We also need to seek out and recruit the thousands of honorable practitioners who played by the rules and recruit them to refashion our financial infrastructure, while weeding out the others

From there we go to those loose "change" promises. You want change? Then let's talk about what the next president is going to have to accomplish to bring his country back to life.

He will need to create a progressive tax system that places a much more realistic burden on the wealthy. We need to actually close those grotesque loopholes, no matter how much the beneficiaries bribe our politicians under the guise of campaign contributions.

Speaking of that, he will need to actually do something about campaign financing. It’s mighty hard, in a nation that codifies free expression, but the John McCain efforts simply nibbled around the edges. And he knew it. Right now, government leaders who are beholden to those who pay for their services (the contributors, not the taxpayers) are the biggest obstacles to any meaningful reform.

He must restore sweeping and effective regulation. Even though a federal bureaucracy is sluggish, and intrusive, that's nowhere near as bad as when we allow the free marketeers to police themselves. Even the most gullible of us have been forced to learn that lesson.

The same approach must be applied to our healthcare. Again, there is no doubt a single-payer system will put our medical needs in the hands of more bureaucrats. However, we already have a single-payer system. The "single payer" is that collusive cabal of insurance companies. Or should I call them single NON-payers, whose regard for their customers’ physical health is overridden by the concerns for their corporate health.

We could go on and on. The point is that unless our leaders are willing to restore the middle class and enforce codes of reasonable conduct, then the only change we'll have anymore is the sound of everyone saying, "Buddy, can you spare a dime?”

Visit Mr. Franken's website at www.bobfranken.tv.

Archived under: Economy & Budget, Presidential Campaign
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