The Time Out Chair

PERSONAL OPINION

Americans are hungry and anxious to know what is going on. They want to understand what all of it means and how to participate in the healing process. And it is obvious even more now than ever, that unbiased and accurate news is hard to find.

Why is it the battles in congress aren't televised where we can see how some of our representatives stand up and pound their fists on the podium in protest for spending money we don't have? It would be good for us to know who toils endlessly on our behalf, to push for forced restrictions on the rogue wall street and banking industries.

Maybe we would be better voters. Maybe with better outcomes. Maybe not need those signs on our lawns that say 'Nov 2010: Throw The Bums Out.'

I wonder if it is the system that is broke or if it is our citizenship. No one I know demanded the truth straight up without ice or made sure our elected officials remained accountable for their pledge of representation.  Patriotic representation for the good of the country, not personal benefits for all the perks they receive in office. Other than a passion for public service, do we know if they grasp any better than we do how Wall Street deleveraging operates and how the Federal Reserve works? 

There's a saying - 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. ' For the charlatans on Wall Street, it must have been embarrassingly easy to pull off the systematic looting of their own country in the last two decades. They probably laughed over it at dinner parties on expensive yachts and from the view of an eightieth floor penthouse overlooking Times Square. My God, it must have seemed too good to be true.

In a lot of ways America IS too good to be true. We are proud, independent thinkers, doers, believers, and livers. We are vigilant about civil rights but not very aware of the significance of compromises to our country's strength and solvency. We the People elect folks and abandon them in Washington to deal with the complexities of running a country we know very little about.

The unflattering truth is that to say the government should have seen what was happening and stepped in to stop it means we share the blame, because we are a government by the people, for the people. No one was riding herd on the powerful entities that are ultimately responsible. 

And where were we when all this was going on? We were happily being indulged by the moneymen granting our every whim with credit and homes and boats and lifestyles we didn't quite earn.  And now that it's over, the Time Out chair is really hard and uncomfortable.