The Post-Times

Philadelphia, Pa

World Press Association

May 9, 2009

In the wake of the recent attacks by the ‘Robin Hood’ gang, as well as the copy cat attacks around the country, one has to ask us what does all this mean? Clearly there is the most shallow of observations, people are angry. This is not news, nor did it take these attacks to discover either. People have been angry for some time; angry about a government which seems to not hear them, angry about paying taxes without receiving anything in return, angry about fighting wars that seem to have no purpose, and generally angry about living in a country that has seems to have lost its way without finding a new one. What is so different now that people are willing to turn to away from the system, or praise those who do? Is it simply the feeling of having been robbed? Or is it that the government appears to be in collusion with the robbers? Or perhaps it’s just that our collective welfare appears to depend on the machinations of a few people who don’t really care? If the Fed had raised interest rates in 2006 when the housing bubble was leveling off, it would have spelled the end for the hedge fund bubble but all the people on subprime loans could have refinanced as they had planned and the mortgage crisis could have been avoided. Since the Fed kept interest rates low, hedge funds kept growing until their inevitable collapse on the heels of the mortgage crisis caused the credit crisis. What’s more, the only reason they were able to offer these subprime loans and hedge fund derivatives is because the last two administrations removed the rules that prevented it. And now Washington tells us they must bailout the very same businesses that did this to our country by having the Fed pour more money into the marketplace. What’s more is that the same people who hold jobs, and pay their mortgage, and pay taxes, are the one’s who are going to be funding this bailout in the long run… and know it. It’s one thing to ask me to assist a down on her luck mother of three with some food stamps and welfare checks, its another thing entirely to ask me to help a multibillion dollar corporation that just crashed the economy without suffering any personal consequences. That last part really seems to be the crux of the matter. Maybe the reason people like the idea of a modern day Robin Hood taking out vigilante justice is because the actual justice system doesn’t appear to be. Time Magazine put out a list of 25 names responsible for the current fiscal crisis, other than Bernie Madoff who turned himself in when he realized he lost everything, no one on that list has faced indictment. When will there be consequences for destroying our economy in a way that was completely avoidable? Civil unrest occurs when the government fails to uphold its end of the social contract. JD Adler WPA