Posted by
Drexel Kleber, Host, Kicking the Anthill on AM 930 KLUP on Monday, March 30, 2009 8:49:47 PM
The time has arrived for President Obama to do something
bold and decisive. I know, people have been saying this since he took office,
and he’s certainly been busy, no doubt. But I mean something really BIG.
Something enormous. Something even bigger than a $3 trillion budget on the
heals of a $789 billion bailout package.
Something like….
Nothing.
It’s time to let his activities work their way into the
economy. It’s time he trusted the people.
He provides $789 billion and the stock market immediately plummets. He
must feel like the maid: “I just cleaned this place.”
He rose to office on the shouts of “Yes We Can!” (I postulated during the election that
when he said “we” what he really meant was “My friends and I,” but we’ll leave
that little tidbit of cynicism by the wayside for now.) I’m assuming that the
meant, “us” as in “you people and me, as your president.”
I’m not seeing a lot of “us” in his “we” lately though. It’s mostly been just him. Which is my point, exactly.
I’m not a proponent of his actions, but given that he’s
taken them and this is whom we’ve got to lead us, let’s make the best of it.
And we can do that by insisting that he slow down for a little while. He needs to let that money settle into
the broader economy and do its work. He needs to let corporate America respond
to new banking laws and regulations. Corporations need to restructure policies
and departments to take advantage of new opportunities.
Amity Shlaes, the author of the book THE
FORGOTTEN MAN about the Great Depression, suggested that the economic doldrums
of the 30s and 40s lasted as long as they did because FDR continued to tinker
with the economy, never allowing the citizens and corporations to learn how to
take advantage of the new rules of the game. Policies that could have been
effective if given enough time were castrated before they ever got a chance to
be effective. American business was left to flop around like a fish on the deck
trying to adjust to a rapidly changing and inhospitable environment.
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Time must be given for those reactions to materialize.
The boldest thing President Obama can do today is to do
nothing with the economy for 9-12 months; make a speech that the ball is on our
court. Tell Americans that he has done what he can and the onus now rests with
us. It’s not his job to take care
of us—just to lead. He has done
what he can. Excessive tinkering will damage the economy further and facilitate
the undoing of good that may come from his efforts to date.
I, for one, would welcome his efforts to step aside a little
and empower the citizens to participate in their own bailout. We, the people (you remember us?), have
kvetched for months that Congress and the President keep throwing money at
banks and big corporations with few restrictions or limitations on them. Honestly, we need a taste of our own
medicine. It’s time we were asked to participate in our own rescue and I think
he’d be surprised at the positive way we respond.