The economic crisis, brought on by the real estate bubble, and Wall Street’s excessive greed in exacerbating the bubble by dealing billions of dollars bad loans, has left millions of families in crisis. Families are over extended and living in properties that they can’t afford or those properties have been abandoned or foreclosed. On top of that, our unemployment rates are still well above 14 percent when you consider the under employed in that formula. The national crisis led to an election of Republican majorities in many states, and many new Republican and Democratic Governors. I think those Governors are justifiably trying to cut programs and spending. This is a time when they can muster the authority to make great changes and to scale down government. They just need to cut in the right places, and they need to think of the ramifications of what they are doing.
In Wisconsin, the Governor is trying to get rid of the unions collective bargaining rights. It seems that his efforts are political in that he left out the three unions that supported him in his election. How he could ever get away with that, I can’t say. It is a bad political move and weakens his position. I am not a fan of many modern Unions for all the obvious reasons, but I do think they serve a purpose. They make us less competitive, and they typically are asking for too much these days. And when I say too much, I am thinking of pensions, benefits, etc. Why should government employees get lifetime pensions, and lifetime medical benefits when private employers can’t afford to offer those things anymore? Unions have historically provided legitimate protection to workers against the ills of business. There has to be a balance and right now it seems that the unions are exposed, because people like me think that some of the benefits provided to union member is excessive. I think that there needs to be compromise here. The Governor of Wisconsin cannot expect to just remove 80 years of history in one swoop. And crushing the unions, because we are in an economic crisis seems extreme. Both side need to get reasonable.
Workers in this country and abroad need to be employed and make a fair wage in order to ensure that the economy remains healthy for the rich, middle class, and working class. The events in the Middle East are a result of decades of huge disparity. We are beyond the problems faced in Lybia, Egypt, Tunisia, and much of the Middle East and Africa. The stratification of the haves and have nots are unsustainable in those countries without strict military rule. The revolutions being fought in the Middle East today should take us back to our historical struggles to provide opportunity for many in our country. I think the key to our crisis and the world crisis is that people need jobs in order to feed their families. We need to cut costs in government and we need to get the unions to understand that they better get reasonable or they will die on the vine, but more importantly, we need the state and federal governments to create jobs. We are fortunate enough to have the infrastructure and resources that Lybia, Egypt, and Tunisia could never dream about. I don’t see an easy road for any of those economies. What I see for us is the need to get people back to work. I applaud the Obama administration’s spending on expansion of business in this country. Despite the costs, government loans to business to help them expand is a worthy gamble.
What I would like to know is how the new politicians on the block, including Obama, have not done more to deal with Wall Street issues like executive compensation? How come we hear nothing about the Wall Street traders who bought and sold the bundled mortgages going to prison for fraud? I would feel a lot better if I saw more of those types of activities going on. Once again, Wall Street and the Banks hold all the influence so they go most unscathed. There must be balance.
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