What Would You Do?

Journalist Judy Woodruff was on the radio this morning talking about the nation’s current economic crisis. She summarized the economic challenges we face and concluded with a question: “If any member of Congress is listening: what would you do? I don’t think anyone has a good and clear answer to that question.”

One could almost see her throwing up her hands in despair, an emotion shared by millions of Americans.

In my view, no one has yet been able to articulate a clear vision of government actions that should be taken to address the complex integrated nature of the entire economy. Mortgage foreclosures, investment firms failing, insurance companies struggling, banks facing insolvency, the entire auto industry on the brink of bankruptcy – and all demand immediate attention.

Ben Franklin noted the natural aversion of man to anticipate and solve problems before they rise to crisis proportions. In his autobiography, he wrote of developing an early plan to unite the colonies and coordinate their resources to provide for their common defense. He was anticipating war with France and tried to advance this idea before a congress of commissioners from each of the colonies meeting in Albany, New York in 1754. (As usual, old Ben was ahead of his time.)

Ultimately, the Franklin plan was judged too bold for the time and rejected on both sides of the Atlantic. Franklin writes in his memoirs that perhaps the later “bloody contest” with England could have been avoided if the congress had the vision to adopt his plan. “But such mistakes are not new: history is full of the errors of states and princes,” he wrote. “Look round the habitable world: how few know their own good, or knowing it, pursue.”

In other words, those who govern are frequently too busy handling the problems of the moment to engage their intellect in a visionary exercise that might anticipate a more urgent problem advancing on the horizon. Franklin wrote, “The best public measures are therefore seldom adopted from previous wisdom, but forced by the occasion.”

And so, that’s where we are today:” forced by the occasion” of economic crisis to develop the “best public measure” to address it. President Roosevelt would understand. When FDR was elected in 1932, America was on the precipice of disaster and the state of the union was not good. Fourteen million Americans were out of work when FDR launched his New Deal. If you think the Bush administration and the current Congress have already overstepped in attempting to save the aforementioned industries, consider just some of the steps Roosevelt took in his first 100 days in office:

Emergency Banking Act, giving the President broad powers over all banking transactions.

Economy Act, reducing the salaries of federal employees and payments to veterans.

Reforestation Relief Act, establishing the Civilian Conservation Corps which eventually provided work to 250,000 young men.

Federal Emergency Relief Act, providing grants to states for relief projects.

Tennessee Valley Authority established, providing for construction of dams and power plants in the Tennessee Valley.

Federal Securities Act, providing for the government to register and approve all issues of stocks and bonds.

National Employment System Act, creating a US Employment Service to cooperate with the states in providing employment services.

Homeowners Refinancing Act, providing mortgage money and other aid to homeowners.

National Industrial Recovery Act established the Public Works Administration, providing funds for a major public works program.

Farm Credit Act helped farmers get mortgages at low interest rates.

Banking Act of 1933 sets up the FDIC which was empowered to insure individual bank deposits.

And all that was done in the first 100 days of the new Roosevelt administration. And oh yes, FDR also took America off the gold standard during that time. The net effect was to devalue the dollar and stimulate the economy. The stock market began to recover.

Today, President-elect Barack Obama announced his team of economic advisers and they include Tim Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury and Lawrence Summers, Chair of the National Economic Council. America has been crying for leadership. Now it begins. It appears we don't have to wait until January 20th for the leadership we seek.

So, to Judy Woodruff and anyone else looking for a clear answer, I would say this: If the past is prologue, buckle up and get ready for bold steps and visionary leadership.

It's about time.

Thoughts about change

The talking heads are talking again and they’re saying Obama is no different from any other politician who ever came to Washington touting “change” but doesn't bring any. They cite as evidence his pick of so many old Washington hands for his staff and Cabinet posts. How else do they propose he effect change? He needs people who know how to get things done in Washington. He will counsel with them, and work with them, and through them he will lead the country in a new direction. HE IS THE CHANGE. Through him will change occur.

Bush’s presidency has been like a festering sore. Yes, we want to get rid of it, but if we keep picking at it, it will never heal. Obama is your mother saying, “Stop picking at the scab, and let it heal.” To the talking heads, I say, “Let the Office of President heal, give Barack Obama a chance.” Got that?

OK, and now NPR voices are complaining that Obama is not choosing NPR for his weekly radio address. “If radio was good enough for FDR, it is good enough for Obama,” they say. Good grief. This is not 1932! Obama is using his transition website, change.gov, for his weekly video message and is posting the same message on YouTube.com. Hello, NPR. Communications technology has changed and Obama is simply tapping state of the art tools to stay in touch with the American people. If YouTube is good enough for you and me, why not a President Obama?

Barack Obama has already changed many things. He permanently changed the way presidential campaigns raise money when he raised $500 million dollars from 6.5 million donors. No one has ever done that. Others will try in the future, and that will be fine. The Obama model will likely be the future “public financing” of campaigns that stimulates voter participation throughout the entire process. He has also demonstrated that a 50-state strategy not only works politically but is also more in keeping with our founding democratic principles, that is, solicitation of the broadest measure of public support by presidential candidates from all states. In its purest form, this strategy is a uniting force, and its success something to celebrate. The other party would do well to attempt to emulate it in the future.

Just Practicing...

That's me at the rear of a Depression era soup line (shot at the FDR memorial in Washington, DC, 2005).

At the time this photo was taken, I had no idea I would be practicing for a possible repeat behind a real Bush Depression soup line in 2008.

God Bless America.

This nation asks for action, and action now.

In FDR’s first inaugural address, he had one line that surely rings true today: “This Nation asks for action, and action now.”

Indeed it does.

We have a housing crisis with foreclosures continuing to rise in a national mortgage meltdown.

We have a confidence crisis, with Americans believing our nation is on the wrong track, our President failing us (approval rating of less that 30%).

We have a President who believes all should be willing to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps never recognizing – as Barack Obama said –“there are many who don’t even have boots to pull up.”

We have a planet that is warming catastrophically due to human actions, with a government unwilling to recognize the cause and take necessary action in concert with the world community.

We have a national reputation in tatters following an ill advised pre-emptive strike against another sovereign nation – the first in our nation’s history. We have a military capability worn disastrously thin by a President who took us to war on false pretenses.

We have a growing dependence on foreign sources of oil that undermines our economy. We have a government unwilling to recognize that any nation that does not control its energy supply does not control its economic destiny.

We have the world’s number one terrorist, Osama bin Laden, still hiding from America in a cave in Afghanistan, breathing feely the air about him, thumbing his nose at us and taunting us with one audio tape after another, especially painful to hear by the survivors of victims of the 9/11 attack on each anniversary.

We have an domestic infrastructure that is crumbling before our eyes – bridges that fail inMinnesota, levees that fail in New Orleans, mass transit systems crumbling from overcrowding and lack of funding.

We have government agencies whose ability to perform for the citizens they are suppose to serve has been diminished through lack of funding by a government that does not believe they should exist in the first place.

We have a national debt that has just passed 9 trillion dollars, with an interest of $409 billion per year that every one of us must pay thanks to the profligate spending of this administration (national debt grew from $5 trillion to over $9 trillion while George Bush was President).

Why do any of us allow ourselves to be distracted from these issues by an airhead beauty contestant when there is so much serious work to be done to set America right? Where is the outrage? Where is the demand from each one of us for the change Barack Obama stands for?

Where is the action that is called for – now?!