Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

Column: Tough economic times are our own fault
By Gavin Mathis
Daily Evergreen, Washington State U.
September 18, 2008

National polls show the economy is the most pertinent issue on the minds of American voters. Rather than telling their constituents the cold, hard truth, both candidates fake empathy and tell the tear-jerking stories. Spinning tales about single mothers scraping by in some battleground state, working three jobs with four kids at home who plans on voting for the only candidate who will help them in their plight.

But the problems in this country are real and so are the people who fight to overcome them. However, in the eyes of politicians, these people are nothing more than caricatures used to further political campaigns.

Personally, I’m waiting for a candidate to tell Americans we are responsible for our own problems – to fix them will take sacrifice. Americans may not want to admit guilt in destroying their own quality of life, but three overriding principles contributed to the current recession: Corporate greed, government apathy and the ignorance and sloth of the American people.

Whenever a crisis rears its ugly head on the political landscape, Americans immediately look for someone to blame. The people blame politicians, politicians blame big business and big business blames the market. Then, we repeat the cycle.

Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson announced the federal government would seize control of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in a desperate attempt to curb the fallout of the financial markets. A bailout of this magnitude shows capitalism and corporate welfare at its very worst. Profits are being privatized and losses are being socialized. Though I support the decision, I wish it would not have come to this.

Beltway politicians and bureaucrats need to take their share of responsibility, especially the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan. Greenspan turned a blind eye to rampant unethical business practices and deregulation as long as the economy grew. Now the current chairman, Ben Bernanke, is forced to clean up the mess. But cutting interest rates and allocating huge sums of capital into the private sector won’t make up for President George Bush’s poorly devised stimulus package.

Ordinary citizens are not immune from criticism either. The subprime loan market was full of dense homeowners who took out loans with flexible mortgage rates far beyond anything they could ever repay. People spent next week’s paycheck on last month’s payments and cheap consumer goods they didn’t need. Americans also have a tendency to vote against their own economic interests by supporting candidates who look like them rather than candidates who will work for them.

John McCain admits economic issues are his weakness. And pushing rehashed economic policy to extend Bush’s corporate tax cuts proves he’s not exactly Adam Smith. The American people have to stop falling for the Republican fallacy called trickle-down economics. Touting his image as a reformer and his years of bashing pork barrel politics might help McCain win votes, but it will not solve the nation’s economic problems.

Wasteful spending on military contracts and bridges to nowhere are perceived as corruption instead of what it really is – a blatant confirmation of our skewed national priorities. No one ever hears of a congressman earmarking diversions of the Department of Defense funds to pay for inner-city schools. Rather than funding education programs or infrastructure renewal plans, U.S. tax dollars go to finance Lockheed Martin’s defense contract, Bear Stearns’ dirty loans and now Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s estimated $25 billion bailout, according to The New York Times.

Our tax dollars, hard at work.

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