• Posted on Tuesday, September 30, 2008
  • Bookmark and Share
  • email
  • |
  • print
  • |
  • rss

tool name

close
tool goes here

Commentary: The economy's toast, thanks to timid Congress

Sign up for email newsletters now!

Sign up for email newsletters now!

 Never miss a McClatchy story
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on Facebook
Add us to your Droid or iPhone
By Fred Grimm | Miami Herald

Such a fine day for an apocalypse. Gray skies. Rainstorms roiling across South Florida. Thunder claps that sent my dog cowering under the desk.

Then Congress, in a burst of populist self-destruction, sent me cowering like a canine.

My initial inclination was to suspend my column, go back to bed and stay there until someone fixes this mess. But I'd develop bed sores before we get leadership with the courage to buck the angry masses.

Maybe I can say the forbidden words, given that I'm not running for office.

We're cooked.

And what a spectacular act of self-immolation. The U.S. House of Representative, voting 228 to 205, killed the bill designed to resuscitate our moribund financial markets Monday. Frantic lobbying by the president and party leaders and the super duo from Treasury and the Federal Reserve failed to persuade enough members of Congress to buck popular opinion.

It didn't much matter that without massive government intervention, the nation's lending mechanisms might seize up like an old clunker's transmission. South Florida, with a real estate and construction industry utterly dependent on free-flowing lines of credit, might as well convert those half-empty condo towers to recession-proof enterprises. Think high-rise prostitution.

Read the complete story at miamiherald.com

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

We welcome comments. To post one, you must sign in using either your McClatchyDC login or your login for Facebook, Twitter or Disqus. Just click the appropriate box below.

Please keep your comment civil, short and to the point. Obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. If you find a comment abusive or inappropriate, please flag it for the moderator by placing your cursor on the comment, then clicking the "flag" link that appears. Thanks for your participation.

ECONOMY IN TURMOIL

economy in turmoil

Read McClatchy coverage of the economic pain Americans around the country are feeling, from Florida to California to Alaska.

ECONOMY QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

hall & pugh

McClatchy correspondents Kevin G. Hall (left) and Tony Pugh are available to answer your questions about the economic meltdown at home and abroad, and what's in store for ordinary Americans.

Q&A: THE HOUSING CRISIS

Mark Zandi, the chief economist for Moody's Economy.com, is took questions from McClatchy readers about the nation's deep housing crisis. His book, "Financial Shock," offers a 360-degree look at what caused the crisis, what mistakes were made and who made them. It offers a way forward to prevent future crises.

Q&A: TERMINAL CHAOS

U.S. air travel these days is about as fun as a trip to the dentist. Departure delays are rampant, bags often miss the flight you've caught and rising jet fuel prices have major airlines charging to check a bag. In his new book "Terminal Chaos," George Donohue, a professor and former high-level Federal Aviation Administration official, explains why our system of air travel is broken and what can be done to fix it. Read the responses.

Q&A: THE THREE TRILLION DOLLAR WAR

For two weeks, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard professor Linda Bilmes, authors of "The Three Trillion Dollar War," fielded questions about the cost of the Iraq war and its impact on the U.S. economy. They're not taking new questions, but they're still posting answers to ones they've already received. Read their responses.