The Consequences of Decisions Deferred
This headline and blurb in today's NYT e-mail blast caught my eye, partly because my thoughts on Sarah Palin finally crystallized over the weekend (blog post coming soon, hopefully), and partly because of Al's enumeration of the issues that were important to him in the coming election:
As Crisis Grew, a Few Options Shrank to One
The downfall of Fannie and Freddie stems from a series of miscalculations and deferred decisions.
If that didn't make me think of global warming, budget deficits, the national debt, and the current economic crisis, this pull-quote from the article certainly did:
"Today's necessary but likely very expensive action for taxpayers is the consequence of regulatory neglect and of a broader political system's reluctance to take on what should have been clearly seen as festering problems."
- LAWRENCE H. SUMMERS, a former Treasury secretary, on the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Something to think about when choosing a president: Do we want a team in the White House that's going to try to tackle the tough problems facing our country, our increasingly interdependent global financial system, and our planet in the 21st century, or a team that's going to stick their fingers in their ears and scream "la la la USA! USA! USA! la la la"?