Lisa Simpson
Mar 4,2010
In: Finance

Nothing Done to Uproot Culture of Greed

Obama had inherited utter chaos. The country was sandwiched between too fatal wars incurring huge expenditures during the last fifty years.

Mistrust returned to the politics of America during the early months of 2009 when the opposition to Obama made the extreme among the conservationist start off its Tea Party type of protests. This attitude was dubbed as “paranoid style in American Politics” by historian Richard Hofstadter in 1960. He was moved by the rhetoric of McCarthy during the 40s and 50s seeing communist conspiracy everywhere – even within the government.

In 2009 this hyper paranoia returned when the Right wing extremists resorted to Tea Party protests. Obama had inherited utter chaos. The country was sandwiched between too fatal wars incurring huge expenditures during the last fifty years. It was in the grip of an economic heart attack with the job market bleeding because of the real estate market having come to a halt.
Despite the impressive victory of Obama the political pendulum was swinging in favour of the Right. The Democrats had handed themselves over to the bankers and the warlords. All that remained was concern for the dispossessed and how to maintain the liberal commitments of the party.

Many of the Democratic legislators (Max Baucus, Ben Nelson, Kent Conrad, Evan Bayh) could be included among the Right that has come to be termed the Blue Dogs. Obama became an icon of compromise trying to appease the bankers and the Blue Dogs. He offered changes that included little or no reforms. Some of these changes like ending torture and secret prisons were difficult to verify and have often been shown to be non-existent. Obama allowed the homosexuals to join the army but they were not given the benefits of the married. All this has not earned many laurels for Obama.

A recent report shows that among the highest 25% earners in the country the unemployment rate is 3%. For the bottom 25% earners the unemployment rate is 30%. The country is suffering from universal despair. Growth is just an illusion. The Obama team’s highest ambition as regards jobs is not so much about generating but holding the present line and not allowing any more job losses. Millions off the rolls since November 2007 has very little hope of returning.

Meanwhile the bankers have started to reward each other thanks to renewed speculation with bailout funds. This has made the taxpayers furious. Obama is trying to contain the damage by controlling the bonus payouts but nothing has been done to uproot the culture of greed that has become a habit among the elite. Obama retreated from forward action by saying, “I, like most American people don’t begrudge people success or wealth. This is part of the free-market system.”