Who's In Charge Here?

I'm not one to jump on bandwagons. That said, I find myself breaking with many of my conservative friends when it comes to dumping responsibility for all of our current financial woes on Barack Obama. We didn't get here overnight, and Republicans share some of the blame for where we are. And yes, that includes George W. Bush. Period.

But the Obama victory was supposed to bring something new to Washington. Nearly every speech he gave during the campaign contained the phrase "bringing transparency to Washington". The idea, I suppose, was to tear away the curtains and break down the doors that the evil Republicans had put up during the Bush years, shining new light so that we, the people, could finally see our government at work. No more back room deals. No more hidden agenda's. No more spending tax payers money without clearly defining what is was being used for. Whoops....

According to McClatchy News, the Treasury Department has yet to shed much light on how any of the massive programs designed to rescue drowning banks and financial institutions are working. The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) money started flowing six months ago, and Treasury still has no mechanism in place for congressional oversight. In a statement, the department said that, "transparency and accountablility are central to ensuring that taxpayer funds are spent wisely." Uh-huh. I think all Americans would agree.

But the Government Accountablility Office said in a report that they have similar concerns as to whether Treasury is working hard enough to let the rest of us know what we're paying for. In the report they say, "Treasury continues to struggle with developing an effective overall communication strategy for the TARP program." In other words, they ain't telling us everything. And it's been six months.

One of the things I will be constantly harping about on my page is that Americans have allowed our elected representitives to become lifelong employees. They do not fear losing their jobs, like many of us do. They feel entitled to re-election. They forget a very basic tenent in our governmental sturucture. That is, that they work for us.

We, the people, have allowed our government to run rampant. We have allowed them to spend us into a debt so deep that we, and our children, will be working to pay it off for decades. We have allowed them to work behind closed doors, because we can't handle the "truth". That's right....we did it to ourselves. We have the power to decide who leads this country. And we have failed in our own oversight. Letting a congressman or senator serve for 25, 30, and even 50 years is just plain wrong. They forget who they work for. They don't ask our opinion anymore, they just tell us that they know what is best and then proceed to do it.

It's how we got into the housing and banking mess we're in. The Clinton administration decided that it would be great if more people in the U.S. could be homeowners. So they told the Congress to make it easier for banks to loan to people who they previously recognized as not having the credit or ability to pay. Democrats in the House, led by Barney Frank, loved the idea and gave it their full support. In the Senate, Chris Dodd led the way. They loaded up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and away they went. There were new "programs" to help folks who were high credit risks to pay for their new homes. Banks were given the green light to tinker with the edges of resposibility and just get these people financed. And that's what they did. Problems started when the new homeowners found out that they had mortgages that cost them more every year. Oh-oh! Guess they should have read the fine print! Or maybe asked questions! Now many of those houses sit empty. Foreclosures are through the roof. Who's to blame? We are. All of us. Yes, including those homeowners.

Now Barney and Chris get on television and say it's all the banks fault. Those crazy bankers are nothing but crooks! Just ask congress! But those are just two elected officials who watched this whole thing spark and burn. We dropped the ball, you and I. We had no idea that any of this was going on. We didn't ask our representitives questions. We didn't watch what they were doing. We just kept sending them back over and over. Now look what they have done to us.

I'm not an advocate of term limits. We already have them. It's called the vote. Let's not forget who is in charge here. We are. We have the power to hire and fire. but we need to pay attention to what they do and how it affects us. Hold them accountable. No more promises of accountability with no way to check them. Open the curtains.

So...transparency has come to Washington. Are you watching?