our economy, the other hot issue

Posted on 14. Sep, 2009 by Maria Clark in Uncategorized

A year ago, many of us sat in front of our television sets and watched hundreds of former Lehman Brothers employees walk out their office building for a final time with all their possesions in hand.

Obama will travel to Federal Hall today, on the anniversary of Lehman Brothers’ demise to address his plan for decreasing government presence on Wall Street. His speech is expected to reinforce the changes to U.S. financial regulations he had proposed on June 17, “including oversight of the systemic risk large financial institutions pose to the economy, new ways for the government to dismantle failed companies and a regulator to oversee financial products for consumers.” He is also expected to call on the banks “to take responsibility and avoid reckless behavior.”

Well unfortunately as of September 14, 2008, government ownership is everywhere from the financial sector to the auto industry. And that, I believe is going to be a hard relationship to break. The government can claim ownership to approximately 26 percent of our economy. That is if I were to win the lottery tomorrow, not only would my earnings be partly owned by the government, but the gorgeous new car, home, and insurance I’d need to protect all my precious new belongings. It will be interesting to hear how he will start to limit that role.

According to the New York Times, Obama will state that these roles are only temporary. But as he is breaking away with ownership, he hopes the government will take a greater role in regulating the financial sector to avoid the mess that led to Wall Street’s ultimate collapse.

Lawrence H. Summers was quoted in the New York Times as explaining:

“These were extraordinary provisions of support, not part of a permanent program,” said Lawrence H. Summers, director of the National Economic Council at the White House. “You’re seeing a process of exit every day. It’s a process that’s going to take quite some time, but the prospects are much brighter today than they were nine months ago.”

Honestly, I am a rookie when it comes to understanding economics and what went down last year. There is nothing we can do now in regards to government ownership over so many aspects of our daily lives. They did what they had to do in order to prevent an even greater collapse. Focus should once again should be placed on financial institutions and they should be required to quickly start paying back the enormous loans they owe, well us.