This page was last updated on February 3, 2010.
Oversight agency desperately needed; Richard Gallagher; Beaver County Times; February 3, 2010.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“I’m desperate to support Thomas J. Donohue’s words about the pitfalls of an economic oversight agency, but I can’t.”
[RWC] In case you don’t know who Mr. Donohue is (I didn’t.), he’s the current president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
“Greedy bankers and their vassals gorged themselves on our nation’s relative financial stability likes termites feasting on a log cabin.”
[RWC] From here the letter is pretty much an us vs. them rant that appears to have been assembled from a bunch of leftist and/or populist talking points.
As you read this letter you’ll find Mr. Gallagher never mentions the core of the problem, the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act and the government entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and their encouragement of loans to people who could not afford them.
“Then, after taxpayer money saved them, they converted too much of the handout into bonuses and other windfalls for themselves. It was like they couldn’t be bothered to bolster the economy and aid those their financial machinations affected.
“If you ask me (and I admit nobody did), they earned oversight hands down.
“Our nation abounds with financial wizards and think tank types who can muster ways to make money without clawing for the big payoff, even with imperious oversight.
“In so doing, they’ll shore up our economic stability and allow the middle class to earn financial security over time. Not to mention find ways to pay down our oppressive national debt. And hopefully do so well that any oversight agency will ultimately be disbanded.”
[RWC] Let’s ignore the whole freedom thing for a second. When has a centrally planned economy ever worked?
“Yes, my idea is quixotic, as government agencies tend to become self-sustaining, if not inefficient.”
[RWC] A nugget of truth.
“Still, I pray that temporary economic oversight will save our children and grandchildren from another deep recession -- or worse.”
[RWC] “[T]emporary economic oversight?” Like the “temporary” Johnstown Flood Tax on liquor that went into effect in 1936 and is still in effect over 70 years later?
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