Falling Banks and Standing Senators

Senators John McCain and Richard Shelby just became my nominees for persons of the week. Yesterday, Shelby discussed the banking crisis on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos”.  On speaking about America’s largest banks, “If they’re dead, they ought to be buried.” About the now-penny stock Citi, Shelby said it’s “always been a problem child.” McCain echoed Shelby’s statements on “Fox News Sunday.”

For the moment, let’s give the honorable senators from Arizona and Alabama the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they couldn’t get email for the past few months. Caught in the glow of a new rock-star President, they were probably too busy to talk to regular citizens. Then their staff sat them down together and it probably went something like this:

“Senator McCain, your constituents aren’t happy…Senator Shelby, with due respect – it’s time to wake up.”  

“Fact is, unhappy citizens from Arizona and Alabama are tired of reading about Obama bailouts and a complicit Congress every time they open their morning paper. They weren’t happy when Bush did it, but they thought it might be necessary. Now, it’s just bordering on ludicrous. Stephanopoulos is on the phone. Can we book you for Sunday?”

I’m glad they made the show.

Why do most taxpayers disagree with the government’s handling of the financial crisis? It’s pretty simple. Because our government isn’t playing by the rules. What rule is that? Easy – if you make a financial mistake, you pay for it.

Once upon a time your dad took you to the department store. Walking through aisles of porcelain and glass, he turns to you and says, “Son, if you break that vase, you’re gonna pay for it.” But your curiosity was piqued. That vase was too pretty not to touch – and just as you reached for it… “crash”! For the next few weeks, you lost your allowance and worked an extra chore to pay off your crime.  

Thankfully, that ingrained responsibility carried you into the adult world. One day you decided to start a business. You invested, you borrowed, but the business didn’t pan out. Because of your upbringing, you didn’t declare bankruptcy. Instead, you spend the next few years paying off the loan – and you started over.

But Congressmen never paid for a broken vase. President Obama, along with most of Washington, never ran a business, failed, then paid off their losses over several years. You see, the rules that apply to regular Americans don’t apply to them.

So when it comes to banks failing and an auto industry awash in red ink, their usual answer is the same. From the White House to the hallowed halls of Congress they cry: “Bail them out.” Their thinking goes, “Sure they made some bad decisions, but they gave us such generous campaign contributions when times were good. Let’s give them a break.”

When will we get a leader like your father? A leader who will tell the banks, “Sorry guys, you broke your bank. You owe us your pensions, your bonuses, and your jobs. It’s time to pay for your mistakes – some of you with jail time.”

I’m not sure if McCain or Shelby look like your dad. But I appreciate their candor at such a time. It’s a sane response to a debt-crazed town who forgot about a shattered vase.