The Sainted Americans

I am a regular viewer of the Sunday morning batch of political shows on television. You know - shows such as Meet the Press, This Week, and Face the Nation. I often don't watch them right away, but download them on my Zune to save for my "listening pleasure," while I commute to work during the week. I check out the weekend line up of Sunday guests, that usually comes out during the preceding Friday. To me, that is more exciting than what teams are playing on a given weekend.

While driving to work this morning, I heard a comment on This Week with George Stephanopoulos that really "stuck in my crawl." I am not actually sure if I have a crawl, but if I did, this would definitely get stuck. It occurred during the round table discussion toward the end of the show. The group of guests on Sunday (9/29/08) was discussing "what's next" in the economy, in particular the proposed government bailout. The panel included - George Stephanopoulos (host), George Will, Robert Reish, and Newt Gingrich. While discussing causes/options of this recent financial situation, George Will (conservative columnist for the Washington Post) said that the United States has to come to terms with the truth that "the sainted American people are the problem - they can't go on like this." George Will went on to say that the "refusal to defer gratification is a fundamental attribute of childishness."

One of the things that really ticked me off - as they say - is George Will's use of the word "they" when describing who is to blame. "They," implies that George Will does not consider himself to be a typical American, and that he does not have any part in this long standing financial pridicament. You know, it is not "me," it is all of "them." Them, meaning all of us childish, needy, unable to delay gratification Americans who are now needing the government to "bail us out of this mess."

Thankfully, Robert Reish (Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton and currently professor at the University of California), replied to Will's statement by injecting the point that currently, in the U.S., that the top 1% is now taking 20% of the national income. This is in comparison to 1980, in which the top 1% was taking 8% of the national income. Reish said that there has never been "this concentration of income since 1928."

George Will, as long as he was blaming someone, did not go on to mention anything about the George W Bush administration, and what this has done to not just our ecnonomy, but to our reputation in the world. He did not mention anything about the billions of dollars being spent in Iraq, or how Halliburton and others like them, are the only ones benefiting from the terrible loss of lives in Iraq. George Will also didn't mention the numerous CEOs of major companies who are getting billions of dollars, whether or not they are producing a profit.

No - this is not to blame. It is us greedy and childish Americans - needing such luxuries as food, clothes, warm houses, transportation, health care, and affordable education - who have caused the mess we are in now. And, understandably, it is only right that we pay for our mistakes with our tax dollars. Since the government is saving us from ourselves - I guess it is only fair that they make a little profit from it.