The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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October 2, 2008

Our View: Wall Street, Main Street disconnect

Most average Americans will not be surprised when Congress ultimately votes in favor of a $700 billion taxpayer bailout of Wall Street’s bad management.

And the furor will likely fade. It will be unfortunate if the discussion somehow ends after we’ve fixed the problem, however temporary that fix might be.

There is much to be learned from this debacle, and congressional leaders and political leaders, including the presidential candidates, should continue the discussion on a number of fronts.

The most striking reactions to the bailout on Wall Street were comments from regular folks and small businesses on Main Street. Clearly, opinions were running in some cases 10 to 1 against the bailout. In easier times, there may have been more sympathy. But gas prices have doubled in two years, food prices are rising at a 7.5 percent rate per year, and the economy lost 605,000 jobs this year alone.

Average people are hurting, and they don’t see Congress rushing to their aid, working into the night to solve their problems. They don’t see presidential candidates halting their campaigns to fly back to Washington to help solve the problems hammering the middle class.

This kind of anger and disconnect can be good and bad. Good in that it may motivate people to actually start paying attention to what their elected leaders are doing. Bad in that that the frustration and angst of the middle class will continue to grow, and they’ll flood Washington like they have with angry e-mails. That could eventually scare politicians into taking an action that may not be good for the economy in the long run. Washington has long been about the short-run and the next election.

Also striking was the lack of clarity for how the average person would be affected and the inability of most politicians to explain it clearly and credibly. Some political leaders were almost patronizing, saying in effect, we need to give Wall Street $700 billion so you can keep your job.

Much political hay has been made when somone suggests the poor get poorer in America and the rich get richer. “Class warfare” they say, is not what we need. Redistribution of income is not what we need. That’s a tough sell when it seems, at least from Main Street, these things are exactly what is happening.

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