Not if we can help it, Terence. — Ed.
U.S. law-making is riddled with slapdash, incompetence and gamesmanship
By Terence Corcoran
Helicopter Ben Bernanke’s Federal Reserve is dropping trillions offresh paper dollars on the world economy, the President of the UnitedStates is cracking jokes on late-night comedy shows, his energyminister is threatening a trade war over carbon emissions, his treasurysecretary is dithering over a banking reform program amid risingconcerns over his competence and a monumentally dysfunctional U.S.Congress is launching another public jihad against corporations andbankers.
As an aghast world — from China to Chicago andChihuahua — watches, the circus-like U.S. political system seems to bedeclining into near chaos. Through it all, stock and financial marketsare paralyzed. The more the policy regime does, the worse the outlookgets. The multi-ringed spectacle raises a disturbing question in manyminds: Is this the end of America?
Probably not, if only because there are good reasons for optimism. TheU.S. economy has pulled out of self-destructive political spirals inthe past, spurred on by its business class and corporate leaders, theprofit-making and market-creating people who rose above the politicalturmoil to once again lift the world out of financial crisis. It’shappened many times before, except for once, when it took 20 years torise out of the Great Depression.
Past success, however, is noguarantee of future recovery, especially now when there are dailydisasters and new indicators of political breakdown. All developmentsare not disasters in themselves. The AIG bonus firestorm is a diversionfrom real issues , but it puts the ghastly political classes who makeU.S. law on display for what they are: ageing self-serving demagogueswho have spent decades warping the U.S. political system for their ownends. We see the system up close, law-making that is riddled withslapdash, incompetence and gamesmanship.