The key term is global. America can't do it alone. That admission has to be the starting point for the building of a new architecture for the trillions in global finances that move around like data on the internet. The internet is global.
America is lucky to have Barack Obama for president. That is a global person. He is a Hawaii guy. He was 11 when he first got to see the continental US, and he saw it on a Greyhound bus. He was raised by a white mother, white grandparents. I have always thought of him as white.
The current crisis is a lesson in humility for America. Yes, we can. That is a call for humility. And a touch of boldness. Humility itself is a bold act.
The problem with American banking is not that the banks have not had enough money. That is why the bailout can not be the number one thing you do, the stimulus package can not be the number one thing you do.
The problem was the banks had too much outside money and did not know what to do with it, so they gave it out like it was nobody's business. It was not a case of demand and supply. Money did not go where the demand was the greatest. The demand is the greatest in the Global South, the demand is with poor women who need just a little bit of capital to start small businesses. But the warped global financial architecture sent the global money to inflate the prices on American houses. Instead.
The house is on fire. America and the world can not afford a meltdown of the American financial infrastructure. The bailout is water. The stimulus package is water. Putting out the fire is important. But the real task is going to be to build a new house, a new tower. The Twin Towers will be gone when the dust settles.It is going to be a major challenge to draw the outlines of a new financial architecture. How do you institutionalize transparency, and accountability, and stay as close as possible to the fundamental market ethos? As in how do you not overreact and end up restraining the market forces? On the other hand, how do you make sure you don't sit back and hope things will take care of themselves? There is major work that needs to be done.
People, voters did not realize when he first started saying it, but Barack's bringing people together dictum is what is going to do the trick. You bring world leaders together. You bring together the titans of global finance. You bring together disagreeing politicians. You bring along the powerless and the neglected to the table, you bring them together with those who might always have excluded them, knowingly and unknowingly.
The stimulus package jacks up spending on education. That probably is my favorite part. That is the knowledge economy way. That is the 21st century way.
The last major tinkering with global finance was when the World Bank and the IMF were created. But this crisis is bigger. So minor tinkering with those two institutions will hardly do the trick. The Twin Towers are gone. It is not like they lost a few floors, so you are going to do repair work. They are gone.
A new tower is going to have to be built. A Freedom Tower. A Prosperity Tower.
No piecemeal approach will work. All three big challenges ask for holistic approaches. And because they all do, you can learn from one to the other. If you can make peace in the Middle East, perhaps you can also fix global finance, perhaps you can also tackle global warming.That is why it is so important to work on Middle East peace. Permanent peace is possible. Has to be. Global warming can be reversed. Has to be. Global terrorism can be defeated. Has to be. Or we are doomed.
Barack's autobiography is Dreams From My Father. I have always thought of Barack as black. President Barack is black.
He has a sister with an Indian name, I have met and talked to one on one, no time pressure. That is how he is my cousin, distant, but still.
That sister is married to a Chinese Canadian. China will not go to war over Taiwan. I am not worried.
While he was running, some neocons tried to emphasize his middle name. Barack was Barack HUSSEIN Obama.
That he is. White, black, Indian, Chinese, Muslim. I am going to argue he gets along a little too well with Rahm Immanuel for my comfort. That makes him part Jewish too.
Barack Hussein Obama is global, yo.
Global Finance, Global Terrorism, Global Warming, Global President.
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