Congress Right to Demand More Accountability
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on September 24th, 2008 4:28 am by HL
Congress Right to Demand More Accountability
WASHINGTON — Liberal Democrats are in agony over bailing out Wall Street. Conservative Republicans are in agony over massive government intervention in what they like to call the free market. Yet neither side wants to be blamed if the financial system implodes. It gets more complicated: An administration whose critics believe it abused the power it grabbed during a different kind of national emergency after the 9/11 attacks is asking for unprecedented authority over the financial system. Yet the man leading the charge this time, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, is one of the few administration officials trusted by Democrats.
“Ownership Society” Leaves Taxpayers Holding the Bag
WASHINGTON — So this is how the “ownership society” works. We own all the bad stuff. It’s been so long since President Bush talked about an “ownership society” that perhaps you’ve forgotten what he meant. Initially, it meant partially privatizing Social Security so that average Americans would fund their own retirement through personal savings and supposedly astute management of their investments. The public recoiled. Notwithstanding Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s continued support for some form of private Social Security accounts, this has about as much chance of clearing Congress as the hapless Washington Nationals have of making the baseball playoffs. That is, no chance.
