Top Down or Bottom Up?

Ben Stein—the lawyer, economist turned deadpan actor—asks the question, "Why not fix the economy by starting at the bottom" (my words, not precisely his)? If bad mortgages are a root cause of the problems now referred to as the Wall Street implosion, then why not give taxpayers a fix on those mortgages? The government is already a landlord (see "government housing"), and the Bush administration has already tried two stimulus packages. (Remember that check you got this summer? It was the second one Bush gave you, in case you forgot.)

A lot of people have been asking this question everywhere but at the highest level of government. The answer seems to be that the cost of this sort of bailout would likely far exceed the current $700 billion being sought.

There are, of course, other reasons. Obviously, the Bush administration wants to bailout its closest allies, and none of them are regular taxpayers, living in small town America. Half of all Americans who voted in the last two elections may have voted for the Dude, but none of you are his real constituency. Bush has always represented big oil and the northeastern banking community. Even if the man himself didn't know that.

The Democrats, on the other hand, have their own rational in this endeavor. They want controls in place over Wall Street and its bankers. No doubt, they have a point, but it remains unclear whether any controls they may be able to employ will much benefit the taxpayer.

As a result of growing up in the oil industry, The Dude demonstrates his capacity to explain the problem with imported oil: "It is clear our nation is reliant upon big foreign oil. More and more of our imports come from overseas." — George W. Bush, Beaverton, Oregon, September 2000.

P. S. Free Marketeers as a matter of principle press for high office holders to be either incompetent or corrupt.

With that in mind, did you happen to see The Daily Show episode featuring Tony Blair? The former prime minister who helped furnish felonious evidence in the run up to the Iraq war is still insisting that invading Iraq was necessary and justified. His rational seemed to hinge on a repetition of "I believe … I believe …." Herr Tony is a devout Roman Catholic. Jon Stuart, who generally seems to be easily star struck, softly quizzed the former British pol, whose career seems to have hinged on his Tom Cruise-like smile, offering repeated opportunities for reassessment, but darling Tony only grinned and repeated his "belief" statement.

Note: I have no idea whether or not Tony Blair was in any way corrupt. But he sure has a nice smile, doesn't he? And he can appear incredibly sincere.