Editor’s Note: This op-ed is by Bob Stannard, a Manchester resident and a lobbyist for Citizens Action Network, a group that opposes the relicensure of Vermont Yankee. This commentary first appeared in the Bennington Banner.
It was the official kickoff of summer. The Fourth of July Weekend. The weather forecast couldn’t have been more perfect; hot, humid, chance of a thunderboomer late in the day, just like it was supposed to be.
Family and friends congregated in backyards all across the country for family barbecues, a game of horseshoes or bocce, and later in the day a fabulous display of fireworks put on by their local benevolent group or municipality. Good friends. Good food. Good weather. Good times. It doesn’t get any better than that for America.
But as we again celebrated like only Americans can celebrate, there was still the lingering itch; the concern as to whether or not we are going to leave this place we call America in a better place than we found it. That has been the way for the people of this country since its founding in 1776. Those who have come before us have always worked hard with an eye towards a future they knew they’d never see.
This was how your father lived, how his father lived and generations of people lived, worked and grew up in America. That was yesterday. Where are we today? Are we living our lives today with the expectations that the world we hand off will be a better place? I’m not so sure.
Overnight, well in an historical sense, since 2007 we have watched as the actions taken by some have resulted in a crisis of global proportions. Greed and the desire for more and more fast money is still crippling the world today. In the mid-2000s some very smart money people figured out a way to make billions of dollars. They discovered that thanks to very low interest rates set by the Federal Reserve (which is neither an arm of the federal government nor a reserve) enabled them to make risky loans. They also figured out a way to bundle up those risky loans so that they appeared to be less risky. They were aided and abetted by insurance companies and regulators who turned a blind eye and were able to insure these risky loans and sell them off.
Once this Ponzi scheme got rolling, more and more bankers saw the light of fast, easy money. They began making riskier loans to people they knew were a high risk, and in all likelihood, would not be able to repay the loan. Hey, there were big commissions at stake. Make that loan.
We all know that this scam failed and the result has been a near worldwide economic collapse. Oddly enough, to date, no one has ever been accused, nevertheless charged, with anything. Billions of dollars have been lost. People have been tossed out of the homes they could not afford and no one’s to blame. Only in the America of today.
We are being asked to adopt “austere measures” to reign in spending. We’re in a recession and therefore we all have to cut, cut, cut spending, because we can’t afford to be where we are. Too bad about your Social Security that you paid into for a lifetime. Too bad about Medicare; a program designed to keep from bankrupting individuals who need medical care in their senior years. Tough luck for you. Those programs have got to go. We need to cut back. We need to sacrifice.
What of those hedge fund managers who walked off with tens of millions of dollars in bonuses? They get to keep their tax rate of only 15 percent while the rate for others is 35 percent. What of those corporations who have the means and luxury of owning a private jet for their executives? They get to expense that expense. What about the top 1 percent of our nation’s wealthiest people who have seen their holdings increase since 2007 and their taxes decrease? Some in Congress are fighting as hard as they can to protect their interests and make this a better country – for them.
I’m not so sure that this is what our founding fathers had in mind when they set up this little democracy those many years ago. They were suspect of corporations saying that a corporation should only exist for a sole purpose, and once the reason for the forming of a corporation was satisfied the corporation dissolved.
Those were the good old days. Today, thanks to the Roberts’ Supreme Court (arguably one of the most activist courts in our nation’s history) corporations now hold the same status as a person.
So, after our birthday celebration let’s take a moment to ponder just what the hell it is we are all about these days. Are we about making this a better place for working men and women and helping them to grow stronger so that they can leave a positive legacy for their kids? Or are we about allowing our country to be hijacked by wealthy corporations and individuals who seem to care more about money and power than leaving this country in better shape than they found it?
Perhaps the time has come for another kind of fireworks.
