NEED TO GO FORWARD, NOT BACK TO THE UNSUSTAINABLE ERA OF WASTE THAT BROUGHT US DOWN.

5 September 2009 BLOG RE NEED TO GO FORWARD, NOT BACK TO THE UNSUSTAINABLE ERA OF WASTE THAT BROUGHT US DOWN.


We at JP Diplomatic Consultancy [www.dipconsult.eu] from the start of this financial meltdown have urged that the way out was the therapy recommended by Paul Krugman, Stiglitz, and other top interventionist experts: 


Government buys enough shares in failing banks to get control (don't need 51% - the banks would know that once the Govt meant to get control and would go on buying until it did, even 20% of shares could suffice). 


Then sack the top echelon of the guilty, and ensure responsible lending for now vitally needed projects such as renewal of infrastructure, alternative energy and energy saving, technology for cleaning up coal, education, health care etc. etc.


Starting on a new path for the economy would quickly translate into jobs and psychologically create hope in a new positive direction for the US. And at the same time address the mortgage crisis to limit foreclosures (there are several ways to do that) so returning consumer confidence. 


Alas, Obama - whom we much admire - chose the "boost banks" policies of Geithner and Summers resulting only in a meagre trickle down to the high street and the "man in it" .


What is vital is NOT to go back to the unsustainable era of monstrous waste of the post-war years. What is so dangerous is that almost everyone is praying for just that - back to the those joyful days when everything seemed to be going so well. Dangerous - because it was not, and a return to that period would be catastrophe for humanity and the existential problems it now faces. These can only be solved by a new direction for the economy. 


Now is the time for America to recover its leadership for international cooperation after the wreckage caused by Bush's two terms of confrontation