After President Obama addresses Congress last month, while most folks thought it was a great speech, I suggested he missed an opportunity to explain to the American people what’s happening to the economy, how it happened and how his plans address not only the crisis but how we can prevent a reoccurrence in the future. After all this talk, does anyone really know what a derivative is and how unwinding them requires people expert in their structure? People are rightly angry about the bail out of irresponsible traders and business leaders who threw caution to the wind in search of obscene profits, not only for their companies but for themselves. Their anger – my anger – is completely justified. But anger is not the best emotion to anchor a recovery.
Obama is apparently considering now a series of “fireside chats” first used by FDR to explain not only his economic policies but the state of the economy and how he thought he could fix it.
I hope Obama goes through with it and carefully crafts each message. But he needs to do more than just explain the problems and how’ll he’ll solve them. He needs to emphasize what policies he will put in place to prevent a recurrence.
The outrage, of course, is palpable against business in general and specifically against the financial sectors. But there is also a growing sense that our economic system is no longer a just one. It is acutely slanted toward moneyed interest. The trickle down economy is now seen for what it is – a condescending bone thrown to the masses. Work is devalued and capital is king. An array of excuses – globalization is a favorite – is put forth to justify the exploitation of people who actually work and produce things.
If Obama’s descriptions of what has happened to our economy are to be be believed, he will need to spend just as much time explaining what he will propose to reorder our economic priorities and fashion an economic construct that levels the playing field. That’s not socialism; it’s fairness. It’s collective responsibility.
What angers people today is not only what has happened but that no one sees a clear answer to the question: How do we avoid this in the future? From corporate bailouts to outrageous compensation to lax regulation, what’s the plan?
Most important, he needs to tell us how we will demand a restructuring of businesses, especially financial institutions – so that nobody, no company – is “too big to fail.”
These chats could be a defining moment for the young president. Let’s hope he seizes the opportunity.