One of the biggest mistakes of the health care fight -- and one of the main reasons the fight dragged on so long -- was the White House's failure to put the effect reform would have on the lives of real Americans front and center. Instead of shining a light on why we needed reform in the first place (millions of suffering people), the administration led with CBO scores, and data about cost-bending and deficit reduction. Finally, at the 11th hour, the president shifted the focus to real people and their stories -- people like Marcelas Owens, the 11-year-old boy whose mother died because she didn't have insurance, and Natoma Canfield, the Ohio woman who gave up her health coverage after her rates where raised by more than 40 percent, and who is now fighting leukemia. That change in tactics made all the difference in reminding the public of the moral imperative underpinning reform.
Yet, when it comes to selling financial reform, Democrats are making the same mistake all over again. The nuts and bolts of the legislation -- which are even harder for the public to get its head around than they were with health care -- are being given a full airing in Congress, on op-ed pages and blogs, and on TV. And these devilish details -- capital requirement levels, proprietary trading restrictions, the independence of the proposed consumer financial protection agency, etc., etc. -- are critical. They are critical because it was getting them wrong that promoted the devastation in people's lives we now see around the country. But the human element is once again getting short shrift.
This is a big-time blunder. Ask the proverbial men and women on the street where they stand on the Volcker Rule, and watch their eyes glaze over. The administration needs to make it clear: we don't need to overhaul our financial system because the Wall Street sandbox has gotten a little messy, and bank CEO bonuses have gotten too big. We need to overhaul our financial system to make sure that system isn't rigged to destroy the lives of millions of middle class Americans who worked hard, played by the rules, and ended up holding the short end of the stick when the big banks drove our economy over the edge of the cliff.
We need financial reform because of the enormous human suffering -- the battered and broken lives -- our current system has caused. Suffering that continues as the ins and outs of reform legislation are being debated.
The fact that this suffering has been largely missing from the debate is one of the main reasons reform is still being debated. If the discussion were more connected to the human consequences of the financial collapse, serious reform would already be the law of the land. Because the devastation isn't just being felt by the poor. It's affecting a wide swath of the group that has long been the foundation of the American economy and the personification of the American Dream: the middle class. People who had steady jobs; people with college degrees; people who were paying their bills, saving for retirement, doing the right thing -- and who have, in many instances, lost everything. The daily miseries being visited upon them are unfolding across the country.
Of course, these miseries are just the latest blow. The problems for America's middle class began long before Lehman Brothers went belly up and AIG turned into the world's biggest casino.
There were 1.1 million consumer bankruptcies filed in 2008. A study by Elizabeth Warren and Ohio University's Deborah Thorne, entitled "The Vulnerable Middle Class: Bankruptcy and Class Status," found that the personal bankruptcy surge is being led by former members of the middle class.
According to the report, the proportion of bankruptcies filed by those who had attended college went from around 46 percent in 1991 to almost 60 percent in 2007. And, ominously, the data for the report was compiled before the economic crash. "I'm almost afraid to look at the data now," says Warren.
Given the lack of urgency we are seeing in Washington, and the lack of focus on real people, it would seem that our lawmakers -- for very different reasons than Warren -- are taking the same "can't bring myself to look" approach.
The consequences of our failed financial system are everywhere you look. At HuffPost, we've made a point of keeping the spotlight on the real people affected by the crisis -- to put flesh and blood on the cold, hard statistics -- through the reporting of our economic impact correspondent Arthur Delaney and our reporter Laura Bassett, as well though our Bearing Witness 2.0 initiative that asks people from around the country to tell their stories of lives turned upside down as a result of our out of control financial system.
People like Ron Bednar and Mary McCurnin, of Rancho Cordova, California -- a loving couple that got divorced last year not because their relationship wasn't working but because it was the only way to make ends meet. Due to unemployment and a bankruptcy caused by a prolonged illness, they found themselves with only $300 in the bank. By getting divorced, Mary was able to collect Social Security widow's benefits from her first husband, who died in 1989. "We literally live from week to week," she told HuffPost.
And Kimberly Rios of Maryland, who sold her wedding ring on Craigslist so she could pay her utility bills. "This is no joke, please be a serious buyer," her ad read. "It is too cold for us to be without electric and heat so if you have been looking consider my deal." After selling her ring, she locked herself in her bathroom, pretending to take a shower, so she could cry without upsetting her family. "I just felt like it was the last piece of what little I had left," she says. "I came out smiling as usual and tried to get my husband and daughter excited that this was a good thing."
Faye Harris was laid off from her accounting job at Emory University Hospital last year. She had gotten cancer, and was fighting it successfully. But as soon as the time off she was guaranteed by the Family and Medical Leave Act expired, she received a letter of termination and her health insurance was canceled. "Do I just lay down and die? Am I not worthy anymore?" she says she asked herself. "I've worked all my life. Put myself through school, raised four children, played by the rules, saved money, and this one illness has just wiped me out."
Ricky Macoy of Quinlan, Texas is a 52-year-old electrician who found himself among the long-term unemployed. With little work since late in 2008, he began pawning his possessions, including his tools, and holding yard sales to get enough money to feed his family. "The thing that hurt the most was we had to hawk my son's Playstation 3, his Wii, his electric guitar," Macoy said. "We lived a good life. Middle income America, man. I'm used to construction, the booms and the busts... [but] I was not expecting to be laid off this long."
Heather Tanner of Pacifica, California put herself through law school, working during the day and attending classes at night -- dreaming of one day being able to move her family out of their apartment and buy a house. In August, she was laid off from her $100,000 a year job as an attorney -- and then struggled to find a job. "I applied for jobs at Target, Macy's, as a camp counselor," she said. "I've been on many interviews, but the comments I get at non-legal jobs are, 'Why do you need this kind of job?' I mean, I have a family to support." She and her husband cashed in their 401K and used their savings to pay off bills. "The kids don't understand," she said, explaining that the thing that hurt the most was having to disappoint her children when it came to things like birthday visits to Disneyland the family could no longer afford. "I'd love to make their dreams come true, but right now we just have to focus on getting by."
I could go on and on. There are, sadly, millions of these stories. Stories crying out to be told. Stories which, if told often enough, will bring the human element to the fore of the financial reform debate -- and grab the public's imagination.
But since most of our leaders -- and most of the media -- have failed to focus on the kinds of stories that resonate with the public, many of the people affected by the financial crisis have begun taking matters into their own hands. We're in the midst of an explosion of new media and social media being used as a means for gathering information about surviving the crisis and connecting with others who find themselves in the same boat.
Sites like Recessionwire.com (which "aims to chronicle the 'upside of the downturn' through personal stories, helpful advice and reportage on the changes underway in these hard times"), LayoffSupportNetwork.com (which aims to "unite displaced workers... by combining the accumulated knowledge of many people that have survived, or are currently surviving without a job"), and LayoffSpace.com (a social network where the unemployed can blog, chat, share ideas, find support, and one-stop career support). There are also a growing number of sites -- including HowIGotLaidOff.com and The405club.com -- where people can share their job loss stories and commiserate.
Conventional journalism failed to fully capture the reality of Vietnam. It's happening again -- we are failing to capture the turbulence of our times with narratives that allow the public, and force our leaders, to connect with the pain and suffering that should be fueling the fight for financial reform.
It's time to put that pain and suffering front and center.
Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff
HuffPost TV: Sam Stein On Obama's Retreat From Energy And Immigration Reform (VIDEO)
What about the past crisis being scrutinized? Have any of the crooks in our financial markets gone to jail? Banking executives? Congresscritters? The OTS examiner who their own inspector general said fraudulently helped Indymac backdate deposits? The guy(s) at Indymac who did that? Lehman's executives? All the other banks who also resorted to bogus "window dressing"? How about Sarbanes-Oxley, that was supposed to prevent this? How about the supposed "clampdown" on off-balance sheet games, which should have prevented any of the several trillion that our banks currently hold off balance sheet - with real values of "god knows what"? How about The Fed's Maiden Lane I-III, all of which I allege were unlawfully setup? How about the blatant lies before Congress by Bernanke, including claims that the Maiden Lane portfolios not only wouldn't lose anything but also that they held "high quality" assets and were not being actively managed (both of which we now know factually were false statements.)
It is impossible to talk about reform when those who publicly and intentionally gamed the system, lied and broke the law HAVE HAD ZERO CONSEQUENCES.
force investment back to main street.
Make Candidates sign a binding legal contract to
outlaw all political contributions for the obvious bribery the are.
Public finance elections.
Mandate free equal prime time for all ballot candidates.
restore the Democratic republic, our liberal founding fathers created!
I expect nothing of the sort though. Dodd and his Congressional compatriots are more interested in the pleasures that are dealt by the Corporate Giants.
What's truly disheartening though, is the certainty that the droves of ignorant Obama sycophants who cheered the health insurance mandate bill will similarly cheer whatever garbage is eventually passed in the name of reform. They will call it a step in the right direction. They will say that we should all trust our president, and that this legislation will be fixed in the years to come. They will point to the worthless Republicans and say that they are no better.
And at the end of the day the corporations and banks will just keep stacking the money.
They further explained the rich had gotten richer over the last 26 years- 10 % of the population controlled 43% of ALL income. Citigroup made a strong point of naming the real losers in the new American economy: "We have lumped the bottom 40% into one to emphasize how relatively small their income and wealth shares are". (This information is thanks to journalist Ed Wallace today.)
How nice of Citigroup to identify their perfect caste system for America. The Bureau of Labor Statistics states that involuntary part-time workers have increased to 9.1 million people in March. Add the 7.9% of unemployed for a total of 17% of Americans who cannot make ends meet. The old song "Freedom means having nothing left to lose" fits the plutocrat system nicely.
If Congress applies bandaids they all need to go.
Republicans, by contrast, have been adept at that since the very beginnings of their Party.
And it works.
It is all very well for a President to take the high road; but a political party must slug it out on the hustings using all weapons at hand.
Right now, Democrats, with few exceptions, and their high-paid political strategists are fighting with kid gloves and with one arm tied behind their back while the Republicans are roaring full throat, teeth bared, across the country.
Example: Democrats have permitted the GOP to lay the blame for the troubles and despair of the Great Recession on them, of all things. Health care reform that benefits all 300 million or so Americans from the newborn to the granny is perceived by many if not most as some sort of giveaway.
And the GOP is making strident headway with its claim that somehow Democrats are "soft on terrorism", a throwback to the old "soft on communism" nonsense when actually the only thing Democrats are soft on is the Republican Party.
It is time Democrats ceased being soft on the Republican Party.
Fight, fight, FIGHT!
Starting NOW.
In addition, the Republican Party isn't responding to the personal stories, their response is that it isn't their responsibility to take care of other people, they'd rather let someone out of a job die.
The problem wasn't with the Republican Party anyway, they voted no regardless, even if it was their bill. The problem was with the Dems playing politics, and they didn't turn things around until Brown won MA and they realized their politics were going to lose their base votes that they need in November.
The ONLY action that works is to make sure Congress knows their jobs are on the line if they don't get something real done. The biggest threat is that Congress will have a repeat of the watering down and bickering they had with health care on financial reform. People exhausted themselves pushing for HIR, and they're going to be really annoyed at the stupid politics if it continues.
Now, I am supposed to feel sorry for a person who loses a 100K/yr job....
Try focusing on the incredibly high unemployment rate in the inner city African American community that Obama has been ignoring
In fact, he has done little to bring down unemployment... just a lot of empty promises... you know, he was going to focus "like a laser beam" on unemployment... turns out its more like a $3 flashlight.
Yes, do feel sorry for someone who loses a 100K/yr job. That's 100K/yr less spent to keep the economy moving. That's 100K/yr less going into the till at businesses that may now have to let some people go or cut their pay.
Obama's big fault right now is trying to work with a party that is dead set on making sure he looks like a failure. Maybe now that he got something big passed without the Republicans, he will realize he really can move forward and release the ties that are holding him back.
Likewise, the banksters and CEOs of the big companies have been constricting as we lose money (exhale), they get richer with each financial crisis. The only difference is that these 'pythons' keep us alive just enough to keep doing it forever. That's why the gap between rich and poor keeps widening in this country.
Thanks so much for continuing this fight to reform Wall Street. At a recent job interview, when the prospective boss asked me what kind salary I was being offered out there, I told him I am making the same kind of money I made the year Ronald Reagan fired the Air Traffic Controllers. In other words, I am working, but making $12,800 less than I made last year. This is just not my story.....I have many, many friends and associates trying to swim upstream in the same monetary currents and wind conditions out there. Thanks for another wonderful and truthful post on this subject.
Meanwhile, from now on we all better watch what we say, because it appears that it’s now ok for the president to have a Hit out on...Un American... American’s. Let us not forget that King and the Kennedys didn’t die of natural caused!