2009Nov20 Government's Role?

Should the government force pay cuts on top executives at the Wall Street firms that received government bailout money?

Almost sixty percent of respondents answered this in the affirmative. Apparently, if you are going to go to the taxpayer for funding, you should be willing to accept government imposed limitations on compensation. If you don’t like that, don’t ask for the bailout.

 

Does Wall Street have to much influence over the government’s economic recovery policy?

The euphoric tide of the 90s has turned against Wall Street. More than eighty five percent believe that Wall Street has too much influence on the recovery policy. This seems especially so when Wall Street has returned so quickly to at least the appearance of health while the rest of the economy remains in the doldrums. Certainly, the anticipated bonuses on Wall Street seem grossly disconnected from the high unemployment numbers today.

 

Has the governments’ recovery policy helped you personally?

More than seventy percent of respondents have no direct benefit from the government’s recovery plan. There is a great deal of dispute about what the stimulus plan has actually done for the economy. The job creation at www.recovery.gov is full of fictitious jobs in non-existent Congressional districts.

 

Did the government do what was necessary to avoid a bigger crisis?

Almost 60% believe the government could have done more. It will be up to the historians to examine the recovery plan to determine if it was the right or wrong course of action. In retrospect, The Great Depression was lengthened by government intervention. In Japan, government intervention has not brought an end to twenty years of economic decline. It seems to me that all three economies have been damaged by unrealistic assessment of fundamental problems and pipe dream solutions.

 

How much were you personally hurt by the economic downturn in the past year?

There were multiple choices to this question. No one indicated that they entirely escaped the economic meltdown unscathed. Forty three percent indicated they were hurt a great deal while an equal amount were somewhat damaged. The rest of the respondents were impacted, but not by much.

 

Would you personally have suffered if the government had allowed some banks to fail?

The majority of respondents, over seventy percent, do not believe that the some banks should have been allowed to fail. Clearly, the government is allowing banks to fail now that they have “saved” some of the big ones. The FDIC has reported that they would close down more if they had the manpower to do so. We just have to give them more time.