It’s difficult to conceive that a nation driven to the brink of financial collapse by an irresponsible, greedy, incompetent industry that runs an operation more comparable to Monte Carlo gambling casino than banking could escape meaningful regulation and yet, they did. It is a catastrophic failure on the part of the Presidency and Congress to protect the American people from rapacious financial predators.

I exaggerate you say? From wikipedia –

In a dramatic meeting on September 18, 2008, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke met with key legislators to propose a $700 billion emergency bailout. Bernanke reportedly told them: “If we don’t do this, we may not have an economy on Monday.”

That sounds serious. A disinterested observer might conclude that an unregulated financial industry could be a problem. But remember we all know that the financial industry is self regulating. It’s watched over by a horde of business publications and reporters who would detect any problem long before it could happen. What’s more, the people, these amazing highly talented aces of industry who clearly merited the enormous sums they commanded were of such high intellectual capabilities and monumental experience that their unmatched stewardship would without any doubt guide their businesses and as a pleasant but wonderful and inevitable side effect, the United States of America to well deserved financial success.

Forgive me. I don’t want to spread the idea that the Chicago School of Economics might not understand economics.

The disaster that occurred in the financial industry in 2007 and 2008 and cost this nation more than ten million jobs should have been made impossible under a new set of rules. But the game is the same. The incentives are the same. The players are the same. The legislation changes none of that. An economic disaster resulting in millions of unemployed Americans is now avoidable through luck. Don’t you feel good?

There are plenty out there who say take what you get. We got more than could have been expected. No. Again no. This isn’t a matter where you can compromise. The survival of the United States as an economic power is an issue here. There are some who proclaim this an incredible victory over immense odds. You’d think they’d just blown up the Death Star, when they compromised with it and decided they could forgive that little Alderran incident as looking backward not forward.

There are some who say the banking industry got creamed. There is one guy who thinks this is a major success for Congress.

What does the banking industry think? Do they feel that it was a compromise in which they got some stuff and lost some stuff, a gain of one thing and the loss of another? No, that’s not how they feel about it. Let’s read the AP headline – Bank stocks soar on financial regulation agreement.

So, what do we do now? Nothing. The Congress and the President are not interested. They have created a piece of legislation with the correct sounding name. This will convince many that something has been done. But it’s just another joker, another game, another day in Washington where symbolism trumps reality.

I have read commentary that says that the government of the United States has been unable to deal with any major legislative crisis over the last thirty years, that the government is simply paralyzed only able to eek out temporary compromises, small bandages for large problems.

This is America. We can accomplish amazing things. We do not have to suffer the foolish and the greedy. We can do better than this.

(What do you think? If you disagree, don’t let me wonder about it. Tell me. I won’t learn if you don’t let me know. If you agree, I can be more confident that I speak for others as well as myself. Don’t be silent.)

James Pilant