Banks, Tanks, and Washington, No Thanks - Part I

                                       

                                                      

     One day, years ago, when I was still taller than my son, our family took an outing to the San Francisco Zoo. We stopped at one of the outdoor cages that, according to its sign, contained an African Horn-bill. It's a very distinctive creature, shiny black feathers and a very large, yellow bill that looks like a prank from Mother Nature. The bird was perched at my eye level, perfectly still. Cody, my son, asked me what kind of animal it was. I told him it was a bird. He asked me, "Why does it have fur?" "Cody," I said, "birds have feathers, not fur". "No," he said, "grey fur." I looked down to him, almost ready to laugh, when I noticed that he was looking towards the floor of the cage, at the Hornbill's feeding bowl, where a large, grey rat was busily munching the birds lunch.
    It boils down to perception and clarity. We look in the same direction and think we're seeing the same thing. It seems so clear, yet the other person seems to be describing something entirely different. What is true?
    When I hear Republicans calling for the deregulation of banks and removal of restrictions on Wall Street and other financial institutions, in order to stimulate the economy and encourage growth, I wonder if they're seeing the bird or the rat.
     Wasn't it the greed of the financial institutions that produced the disastrous economic meltdown? Was the bubble burst the fault of the people receiving "sub prime" mortgages or the people who created scheme to begin with? The mortgages were sub prime, not the folks who got them. The only thing toxic about the situation was the atmosphere that allowed the financial institutions to feed their beast. But again, it's about perception, isn't it?
     The banks got bailed out. We all pay the bill for that. The bailout was supposed to bolster the economy and allow the banks to get on with business. Re-invigorate the housing market. But they've balked, buying time to figure how they'll be able to turn a profit out of the mess they got us all in. Banks are sitting on foreclosed houses, receiving no mortgage payments, yet making it ridiculously hard for qualified buyers to purchase these places. I wonder if the banks are loathing the idea, that since the mortgage interest rates are at historic lows, those rates will go up, and they will have lost out on the increased profit- so why lend now?
     I am not even going to mention the profits and bonuses paid to the titans of Wall Street during the downturn. Things turned down for everyone else, not them. True, a few bit the dust. But very few were prosecuted and convicted, and those who were got away with lenient sentences- token justice for the masses. Why didn't they do the proper thing, like during the Great Depression, and start jumping out windows of tall buildings?  Talk about the "good old days".
    You do not give more drinks to a drunk, or reload a murderers gun; not in good faith, anyway. You can't expect someone who has allowed greed to become an attribute to suddenly deal fairly and play within the rules. Do you, my Republican friends, really believe that by removing scrutiny and regulation, that these same people will foster an atmosphere of truth, fairness, and opportunity? It will likely look like the deathbed scene in "Zorba the Greek", when, after her last breath, the widows room is stripped of everything except the corpse.
    We have let the banks and Wall Street dictate a new morality in which the only end is wealth, where greed is an admirable quality and conniving a sign of savvy. Corporations are now people. We, the People, are expendable. Washington is a stalemate, Republican and Democrats uncompromising (third party , anyone?).
    I urge you all to look at the big picture, the entire thing. Don't miss the rat in the corner.