Time for Accountability on the Hill

Americans are voting with their wallets like never before.

A record number of Americans are pulling their money — or what’s left of it — out of the stock market. It is not surprising, given that yesterday was the worst day in the stock market since the crash of 1987 and last week was the worst on Wall Street since 1933.

Americans are sitting on more than $1.0 trillion in credit card debt, which is growing by the day, and it seems certain that the recession will be deep, long and painful. Unfortunately, it seems that all of the elixirs that the administration has injected into the economy and financial system cannot restore the confidence needed to stabilize the markets.

But this should not be surprising. Why? Because politicians are asking us to trust that they are capable of fixing the problems and protecting the American consumer, but it was the politicians who created a highly flawed system — starting with housing finance policy and regulation a decade ago — that is crippling the health of the global economy. Ironically, they now want to play watchdog over a solution when they allowed their “solution” from a decade ago to operate essentially without regulation or oversight. In the process, their legal umbrella enabled and facilitated corruption and protected those who enriched themselves, passed risk on to the American public, brought the global financial system to a halt and washed their hands of the matter.

Again, it is not surprising that the American public, corporations and the global financial community are unwilling to commit the much-needed capital to bring the market and economy out of the doldrums when Congress has breached their trust and seems to be above reproach. We cannot expect confidence to be restored until those on the Hill who created this mess step up, take ownership and assume accountability for creating a “solution” that has had less oversight than even the gaming industry. Before Congress goes on its witch hunt on Wall Street, perhaps they should look in the hallowed halls of the Capitol.

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