Can he fix entire economies? The world?
There is one thing the new president must do.
Never again can unrestrained capitalism be permitted to hold the country, indeed the world, ransom to the ability of thieves in three-piece suits to plunder without consequences. After the 1929 crash, FDR faced the same situation. The capitalist establishment pleaded with him that they could police themselves. Roosevelt knew better and put one of the bandits, Joseph Kennedy (father of) in charge of the new Securities Exchange Commission, saying he was “setting a thief to catch a thief.”
Surely now that we’ve seen the Savings & Loan scandals, the Enron scam, the collapse of banks one thought of as impregnable, and the stock market crash, we’re ready for some real rules in the investment world, with the government an active policemen, and laws, which if broken, result not in bonuses but time behind bars.
No man has come to the White House with the array of problems domestic and foreign as has Barack Obama.
We know he can speak and inspire people.
Obviously he knows how to command loyalty.
Let’s hope and pray he can also fix economies and, indeed, the world.
Rafe Mair is a Canadian leader and retired politician, at one time head of Vancouver’s upstart stock exchange.