To the editor:
Jim Dyment’s letter to the editor of Sept. 16 is filled with disinformation, falsehoods and typical right-wing fear-mongering. Where to begin?
Mr. Dyment asserts that President Obama has an agenda to take over banks and car companies, in particular, and to generally “take this country apart, piece by piece.”
With regard to Obama taking over the banks, how quickly Mr. Dyment has conveniently forgotten that it was President Bush’s secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulsen, who called in the CEOs of all major banks and forced them to take federal funds in an attempt to avoid the meltdown in the financial market last year. Therefore, to the extent that banks have been nationalized, it all started under the Bush administration.
The financial sector is once again starting to act irresponsibly, so Obama is being forced to address the need for regulatory reform (to undo the deregulation scheme pushed through Congress by former Republican Sen. Phil Graham). Republicans will resist mightily, but reform is necessary to protect citizens from the unmitigated greed and risk taking of bankers. Unregulated financial markets simply do not serve the public good.
With regard to the auto industry, Mr. Dyment has again conveniently forgotten that it was during the Bush years that the big three car companies were on the verge of collapse, and it was only by the financial intervention of Obama and a Democratic Congress that all three companies still exist today.
If memory serves, Chrysler has successfully emerged from bankruptcy and has begun reimbursing taxpayers for relief funds it accepted, and all American automakers, including Ford (which refused federal assistance), are starting to slowly recover. There is a very real possibility that taxpayers will eventually be reimbursed fully for all funds expended to prevent the financial calamity of an auto industry collapse.
With regard to the current right-wing mantra that appointing “czars” somehow subverts the Constitution, is it Mr. Dyment’s assertion that Ronald Reagan, George Herbert Walker Bush and George W. Bush also subverted the Constitution when they appointed “czars” to advise them on various policy issues? Of course not. The current Republican talking point is that because Obama has appointed more “czars” than any of his predecessors, that somehow magically becomes a violation of constitutional principles.
The logic escapes me, but the fact that Obama may have a few more “czars” than his predecessors is a direct reflection of the horrible mess that he inherited from Republicans. I am thankful that we have an intelligent, thoughtful and substantive president who relies on experts in various fields to advise him on how to begin climbing out of the deep hole our last Republican president and Republican Congress left us in.
Space limitations preclude in-depth debunking of many more of Mr. Dyment’s talking points.
Suffice it to say that the “stimulus bill” is working — don’t take my word for it, ask Warren Buffett. Healthcare reform is coming, notwithstanding efforts by Republicans to maintain the status quo — a policy that would bankrupt this country.
Democrats, Independents and, yes, even some thinking Republicans started the process of taking our country back last November by giving Obama a mandate to fix everything the Republicans broke, and we will eventually undo all the devastating policies of a Republican administration and a Republican Congress.
I for one want the country back that we had before the dark ages of the Bush years.
Nels Kelstrom
Clinton
