Let Them Fail or Take Them Over
By Maui Curmudgeon

The Curmudgeon has been quiet of late, letting events work their way out, at least to some degree. Paul Krugman, the Nobel prize winner for economics last year, has written that the government’s response to the current economic crisis brings him to despair, and I feel his pain.

In a recent economic round-table in New York City, Krugman said, “This crisis has been so large and the political response so sluggish that the difficulties have been greater than expected. Things are getting worse more slowly, but we have not managed to head-off a crisis that could turn out to be self-reinforcing, and leave us in this trap for many, many years.”

I would go further.

First, I’m shocked that in this particular case, I seem to be in agreement with some real nutjobs, most notably those found on the infotainment station FOX. Still, I have been and continue to be of the opinion that the Obama (and Bush before him) administration is so wrong about spending the money it has to “save” companies. I think that, without exception, every financial company, manufacturing company and wall street baron should have been let to fail. Let them collapse. Banks should be supported, but those that borrow from the government should be, in two words, taken over.

Obama’s terrible response to the economic crisis is the same as Bush’s response to the war. If you remember, Bush’s great societal mobilization to the terrorist threat was, “go shopping, act normal, everything is fine.” Frankly, it worked. Do YOU feel we’ve been at war for seven years, with no end is sight? No, neither do I. But I would argue it is only by feeling the pain of being at war can a society end it to its advantage as quickly as possible. Right now, NO ONE is in the streets agitating for an end to the war.

Likewise, no one is agitating for a redesign of our economic structure, which has failed and will continue to fail as long as we pretend that “things will get better.” Business as usual is dead. Spending trillions to keep it on life support is a crime, and a slavish abuse of future generations.

We are already experiencing the idiotic wake of this financial policy and its inevitable destructive result, right here on Maui.

In the past two weeks, several real estate companies on Maui have come up with “clever” ways to attract home buyers. One is, you get to move in and not pay any mortgage until next year. Another is, believe it or not, you can get a mortgage without a credit check. These are the same financial shennanigans that screwed us up in the first place. Both tricks are being advertised on radio right now.

For the record – and you can look it up – MORE homes are in jeopardy of collapsing this year than have collapsed thus far. We have thrown trillions into the economy, for what?

For nothing. Yeah, it’s enough to drive one to despair.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Join the Maui Curmudgeon for a week-long tour of the Hawaiian Islands starting Sunday, June 28th. Tomorrow’s Curmudgeon – “Was Lincoln a Racist?”