Strap It On

Many months ago, I wrote about a higher standard. (http://rotterdamny.blogspot.com/2008/09/higher-standard.html) It’s an understatement to say there is a lot of warranted finger-pointing occurring at the national level as the various interested parties wrangle over missteps taken in dealing with the country’s fiscal crisis. In my opinion, there is certainly plenty of blame to go around, but determining who it belongs to is secondary to fixing the underlying problems.

I was personally impressed by President Obama’s willingness to step forward and declare, “The buck stops with me.” Again, many will dismiss his comment out of hand as just words that don’t matter. I disagree. They do matter. These are important words. Why? Because it’s an acknowledgement that missteps occurred. As top man, he is ultimately responsible and accountable. It will be his task to right the ship and ensure that eventually those most directly responsible for the missteps are held accountable in whatever sense makes most sense in the context of fixing the underlying problem.

Read my old post. To expect a higher standard from others, you’ve first got to exhibit that standard yourself. Does anyone else find it a bit disingenuous of our various politicians claiming outrage about the taxpayer being taken advantage of? These same guys across the political spectrum have been doing exactly that for as long as I can remember. They ride in taxpayer paid vehicles, enjoy per diem expenses to accomplish nothing, routinely fail to pay their own taxes, etc. In my opinion, it’s false outrage to distract from their own shortcomings. The bottom line is we’ve got to fix it. How we do that will be no easy feat. It certainly couldn’t have been realistically expected by anyone that understands economics that it would be fixed in short order.

The fix begins by “owning” the problem. So far, the only person willing to do that is President Obama and I respect him for it.

Too much finger-pointing. Too much name-calling. Too much nonsense. It can’t continue if we want to move forward.

I end with one question: Can you hold yourself to the higher standard you expect from others, or are you part of the problem?