The Lost Decade
The first decade of the new millennium is the "lost decade" for America, the one where we lost a surplus, gained a massive deficit, declared two wars with no intention of funding them, rounded up the usual suspects in those wars and set them to rot without charges in Gitmo for an undetermined amount of time, and threw in some VP-sanctioned torture as an add-on to the new millennial approach to national security.
It was a decade that began with all the drama of the hanging chad, a hotly contested presidential election teetering on the decision of Florida voters, a state led by the brother of one of the presidential candidates.
We finally came to decide the next president of the United States based on the opinions of the nine justices of the US Supreme Court.
The brother of the Florida governor won. When it comes to allegations of rigging a presidential election, the Daleys of Chicago have got nothing of the Bushes of America.
The transition of power happened peacefully; Democrats handed over the reins to Republicans and the spending began in earnest.
The new president realized that a vacation was in order, and many landmark moments happened when Bush was resting up – our president was in Crawford the month of August 2001 (just months after taking the oath of office) and thus missed CIA memos on possible terrorist attacks; he was on vacation when Katrina hit, and remained on vacation after it was apparent Katrina was the worst national disaster to hit the nation. Cutting branches seemed to be the occupation of preference for this particular president.
The decade included 9/11/01, the first attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor. A shocking, astonishing, grief-stricken moment. The president rose to the challenge and gave us that lovely and unforgettable image of him standing on the rubble of the Twin Towers, bullhorn in hand, supporting the heroic firefighters and encouraging America to look forward, to never give up.
We went to two wars in this decade with the army we had, not the army we wished to have – so said Donald Rumsfield, in response to questions about lack of proper equipment in the field.
Arthur Anderson crashed in this decade, after making the decision to throw out rules of accounting - if numbers not adding up to the client's desired outcome pissed off the client, Arthur Anderson's accountants decided it was best revise established accounting practices to make sure the numbers added to whatever the client wanted, truth be damned.
Enron was the result. A massive collapse of a massive company just months after we all witnessed the collapse of the two towers in NY. This tragedy was American made, with many thousands of people crushed by the crash of the giant E.
(Have a sneaky feeling that Skilling will be let off, when the Supreme Court comes to its decision on his fate.)
This was the decade that saw the collapse of our financial system, that saw the conservative president and his conservative Treasury Secretary (Bush and Paulson) initiate one of the most massive entitlement programs for American business - TARP. One year after TARP began, we also are now seeing some of the biggest bonuses ever for bankers who'd received federal bailout funds and survived the crash.
This was the decade that saw the most precipitous loss of jobs in decades, job losses that began in earnest once TARP went into law and job losses that have not yet been halted by the trillions in federal money thrown at the problems.
This was the decade that saw the election of America's first African American president. The election night celebration in Chicago 2008 was an extraordinary moment in American history.
As we move forward into a new year, a new decade, we have many problems to resolve. We have enormous deficits to overcome. As Americans, we have a legacy of hope and strength to draw from as we work to solve our problems.
It was a decade that began with all the drama of the hanging chad, a hotly contested presidential election teetering on the decision of Florida voters, a state led by the brother of one of the presidential candidates.
We finally came to decide the next president of the United States based on the opinions of the nine justices of the US Supreme Court.
The brother of the Florida governor won. When it comes to allegations of rigging a presidential election, the Daleys of Chicago have got nothing of the Bushes of America.
The transition of power happened peacefully; Democrats handed over the reins to Republicans and the spending began in earnest.
The new president realized that a vacation was in order, and many landmark moments happened when Bush was resting up – our president was in Crawford the month of August 2001 (just months after taking the oath of office) and thus missed CIA memos on possible terrorist attacks; he was on vacation when Katrina hit, and remained on vacation after it was apparent Katrina was the worst national disaster to hit the nation. Cutting branches seemed to be the occupation of preference for this particular president.
The decade included 9/11/01, the first attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor. A shocking, astonishing, grief-stricken moment. The president rose to the challenge and gave us that lovely and unforgettable image of him standing on the rubble of the Twin Towers, bullhorn in hand, supporting the heroic firefighters and encouraging America to look forward, to never give up.
We went to two wars in this decade with the army we had, not the army we wished to have – so said Donald Rumsfield, in response to questions about lack of proper equipment in the field.
Arthur Anderson crashed in this decade, after making the decision to throw out rules of accounting - if numbers not adding up to the client's desired outcome pissed off the client, Arthur Anderson's accountants decided it was best revise established accounting practices to make sure the numbers added to whatever the client wanted, truth be damned.
Enron was the result. A massive collapse of a massive company just months after we all witnessed the collapse of the two towers in NY. This tragedy was American made, with many thousands of people crushed by the crash of the giant E.
(Have a sneaky feeling that Skilling will be let off, when the Supreme Court comes to its decision on his fate.)
This was the decade that saw the collapse of our financial system, that saw the conservative president and his conservative Treasury Secretary (Bush and Paulson) initiate one of the most massive entitlement programs for American business - TARP. One year after TARP began, we also are now seeing some of the biggest bonuses ever for bankers who'd received federal bailout funds and survived the crash.
This was the decade that saw the most precipitous loss of jobs in decades, job losses that began in earnest once TARP went into law and job losses that have not yet been halted by the trillions in federal money thrown at the problems.
This was the decade that saw the election of America's first African American president. The election night celebration in Chicago 2008 was an extraordinary moment in American history.
As we move forward into a new year, a new decade, we have many problems to resolve. We have enormous deficits to overcome. As Americans, we have a legacy of hope and strength to draw from as we work to solve our problems.
Comments
Things will get better if we try to live clean lives and work hard.