2008 financial crisis. Vote.
Originally published 12 Oct 2012
History may very well go down showing that this period of social / fiscal transition after the 2008 financial crisis (and even before) was a period not so much of conflict, disagreement, and mistrust between Democrats and Republicans failing to compromise, thereby leading to an almost dysfunctional legislative government, but more so the friction that has then subsequently been caused between Congress and the Federal Reserve who both have the responsibility and obligation to help the people.
Instead of relying on fiscal policy *and* monetary policy, the end result in this political stalemate is that the United States and Europe are relying on their respective central banks to “step-up” and save the day, almost ignoring fiscal policy altogether while politicians point fingers as to the root cause instead of doing something about the problem at hand.
Now, I do not care if you are left, right, or in the middle. At the end of the day, we the people have elected officials (that we pay for with our taxes) that need to do something (even if it is not popular) and stop relying almost exclusively on drastic monetary policy / quantitative easing (QE) to make up the difference for the lack of political action.
None of the needed actions will be politically appetizing, but I promise the alternative of almost exclusively relying on monetary policy will be and feel much worse with time.
I would love to vote for the Guy / Gal that gets up the day before the election and says, “Ladies and Gentlemen, please vote for me. This is why. I will commit myself to doing nothing but the most difficult political work that will for sure be thankless and unappreciated, but it will be the right thing to do. I will almost certainly be a one-term politician, and other future politicians (or would be politicians) will make reference to my time in office as an example of what not to do. BUT, I am going to work hard and diligently for your benefit, and I am going to do the work that is basically political suicide as it needs to be done by someone.“
We need more Statesmen/women who are not afraid of making tough decisions and possibly having one-term political careers instead of this flood of seemingly career politicians who are afraid of their own shadow or making unpopular decisions if it means they might not get re-elected. Some have a silver tongue and can almost talk their way out of anything except the track record of inaction.
SO…. GO VOTE! Nothing makes politicians more nervous than when the people (all of them) are actively voting. If you do not like the outcome of the politicians in office (from the President all the way down to your local Mayor), then vote for someone else, but please do not complain about the outcome if you have not voted (or not legally authorized to vote).
Left, Right, Up, Down, In, or Out. If politicians get a constant free pass to get away with doing nothing, at the end of the day, we will all pay for it.
My $0.02