lalalalalalala
I was reading Wall Street Journal reporter Paul Ingrassia’s latest piece about the never-ending bailouts of Detroit automakers. Halfway down, he wrote this:
So why were these problems allowed to fester, when smart people recognized them all along? The answer is that the solutions were painful, requiring not just brains but considerable amounts of courage. UAW officials weren’t brave enough to risk re-election defeat by agreeing to curtail the 30-and-out plan. Detroit executives weren’t about to take on the union and risk a strike that could cost them billions. GM likewise felt hamstrung on Saturn and Saab by state dealer-franchise laws, especially after they spent $1.3 billion to shut down Oldsmobile a few years ago.
Perhaps the best analogy, and one that Washington will understand, is Social Security. Everybody in Congress and the White House has known for years that it’s a ticking time bomb, thanks to actuarial trends and inadequate funding. But when President George W. Bush tried to reform the system early in his second term, he was handed a crippling defeat.
We are a nation of political cowards. No one wants to pay the price consequences of real honesty, especially once they’ve ascended to power. Whether it’s a political office, or a CEO position, or the presidency of a labor union; whether we’re talking about a Democrat or a Republican; the underlying cause for the meltdown we’re experiencing now, and the meltdowns soon to come is cowardice.
Not just fear of taking a stand. Our leaders have conditioned themselves to be afraid to speak the truth. They pay millions to PR helpers for assistance in drilling them within an inch of their lives so they won’t accidentally acknowledge certain problems, because acknowledging something implies the requirement to act. Read more »
