Editorial Roundup
The Associated PressExcerpts from recent editorials in newspapers in the United States and abroad:
Sept. 16
The Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel, on why the feds were right to deny a taxpayer bailout for Lehman Brothers:
It's natural to second-guess recent moves by the government's top economic officials after a day when the most-watched stock index drops nearly 500 points. But when those officials refused to bail out Lehman Brothers, taxpayers got a break they deserved, and Wall Street got some strong medicine it needed. ...
Unlike Fannie (Mae) and Freddie (Mac), Lehman Brothers was not too big to fail. It sealed its fate by investing in too many risky deals and borrowing too much in an increasingly reckless effort to keep up its profits. ...
The government's hard line on Lehman probably persuaded another ailing investment bank, Merrill Lynch, not to hold out for a taxpayer bailout. It agreed over the weekend to be bought by Bank of America Corp.
In today's slumping economy, there's a long list of struggling industries. If the government were to keep bailing out banks, how could it turn down the auto industry, which has been seeking up to $50 billion in federal aid? ...
More than a year of turmoil on Wall Street has shown the need for better regulation of financial players, especially investment banks. But drawing the line at bailing out Lehman Brothers may do as much or more to discourage such firms from taking excessive risks.
Those companies and their executives have profited handsomely during good times. If they can't count on taxpayers to make up their losses during bad times, they're a lot more likely to operate responsibly.
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On the Net:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-ed16108sep16,0,3352577.story
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Sept. 16
The Indianapolis Star, on the credit crisis and the future:
The Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury made the tough but necessary decision not to offer a taxpayer bailout of the failed financial giant Lehman Brothers.
The immediate effect was another hard shot — the Dow dropped more than 500 points Monday — to an already wobbly financial system. Wall Street's woes are causing deep angst for millions of Americans, who have seen their retirement accounts and other investments tumble in value this year.
But it's better for the nation to absorb the pain now than to continue to pile on bad debt, a practice that would sap the nation's economy even further in the future. The move also sends a much-needed signal to other troubled firms that the federal government can no longer afford to erase their poor business decisions. ...
A sour economy is likely to turn worse in the short term as the credit crunch tightens. Job creation will slow even further as investment capital evaporates. The financial poison now in the system must work its way through before a turnaround can be sustained.
The political implications are immense. ...
The faltering economy will force Barack Obama and John McCain to not only show leadership in a crisis but also craft clear messages about how best to handle the credit meltdown.
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On the Net:
http://www.indystar.com
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Sept. 16
The Anniston (Ala.) Star, on Hurricane Ike:
Everyone knew Hurricane Ike was coming. Everyone knew it would be bad. Everyone was told to get out. ...
Galveston, Texas, is not New Orleans. It is not an inland city where many residents believed they were safe. It is on an island. ...
Yet, despite all the warnings, approximately 2,000 stayed on the island, many of whom had the means to leave. And many of those have learned a bitter lesson. ...
Galveston is flooded with putrid slime full of raw sewage and floating debris that endangers anyone who tries to get out. Power is off. Water is off. Toilets won't flush. ...
The mayor is telling those who did evacuate to "not come back to Galveston. You cannot live here right now."
Which is what those who stayed behind have discovered, and they want to get out.
So rescue workers — who might have been of use in other parts of the disaster area — are trying to get into Galveston to bring out people who somehow thought the warnings did not apply to them.
This nation has always been a place where people were free to do foolish things — so long as what they do doesn't endanger others. In this case, it is hard to have enduring sympathy for those who could have evacuated and chose to stay behind.
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On the Net:
http://www.annistonstar.com
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Sept. 11
Chicago Sun-Times, on protecting the U.S. without eroding ideals:
On this seventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, we remain prisoners of our own fears.
In those first months after the horrific attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, we were driven by rage, but also by fear, dressing it up as resolve and patriotism. In our fear, we allowed our president to lead us into a foolish war. ...
In our fear, we allowed our government to abandon the very principles that have made America a beacon of freedom around the world — our commitment to human rights and the rule of law. At a detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, we denied these rights to non-Americans — and even to one American — whom we labeled "terrorists" based on nothing but the president's word. ...
In more recent years since 9/11, we have remained fearful still, acquiescing in the name of national security to assaults on our civil liberties. ...
On. Sept. 11, 2001, every American learned one great lesson: Terrorists are real and plotting to do us harm, and we must protect ourselves.
But in the seven years since, we have failed to understand a second lesson: We can protect this great country without eroding the inspiring ideals espoused by our Founding Fathers that make it great. ...
Next year, on the eighth anniversary of 9/11, we will have a new president and a new Congress.
Our fervent hope is that they will be unafraid.
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On the Net:
http://www.sun-times.com
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Sept. 13
The (Steubenville, Ohio) Herald-Star, on "change" in presidential campaigning:
Campaigning in this era of presidential candidates seeking to wear the "change" mantle really hasn't changed.
If anything, until American voters demand more substantive national coverage — by actively paying attention, watching and reading quality information and reporting (it is still available) — campaigning for president will continue far into the future as attack-counterattack, neck-and-neck horserace events.
Want evidence?
Just look back over the past week.
Barack Obama made a comment that "you can put lipstick on a pig and it is still a pig."
John McCain's campaign took that as a direct shot at vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who has taken part of her implausible rise to fame on the back of a line about the only difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull dog being lipstick.
Obama's defense was that the "lipstick on a pig" comment is merely uttering a simple old saying, and he noted that McCain said it before, too. ...
Lipstick on a pig has nothing to do with the kinds of issues facing most of us, including jobs, the price of fuel, the development of alternative fuels, health care costs, tax rates, the need to bolster investment in the nation's infrastructure and to do all of that while being globally competitive.
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On the Net:
http://hsconnect.com/page/content.detail/id/508550.html?nav5005
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Sept. 14
Bristol (Tenn.) Herald-Courier, on gas prices and Hurricane Ike:
As gas prices skyrocketed Sept. 12 ahead of Hurricane Ike, area residents panicked. By rushing to gas stations to fill up every vehicle and gas can they owned, they drove up prices even further by draining supplies.
Prices jumped 30 cents just while some local customers lined up to fill their tanks. ...
Gas stations refused to discuss the situation with our reporters, but that does not mean they were engaging in price gouging.
And Big Oil remains a favorite whipping boy for its record-setting profit margins in a time of economic strife for the rest of us.
But the best response to this situation is patience, according to experts, including AAA. The organization advises consumers to buy gas as they normally would and ride out the storm in the Gulf of Mexico. ...
It's called simple economics — supply and demand. Gas prices dropped this summer because demand dropped. ...
Sometimes it's human nature to look for a scapegoat. It doesn't help that politicians constantly look to make political hay out of our misery.
The best course of action is to remain calm. Wait until you need gas and drive less in the meantime. Ride out the storm in the Gulf and hope that the oil rigs fare well.
Just don't panic.
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On the Net:
http://www.tricities.com
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Sept. 12
The Durango (Colo.) Herald, on the scandal involving Minerals Management Services employees:
A report released Sept. 10 revealed a pattern of scandalous behavior at the Department of Interior division responsible for collecting royalty obligations from companies that drill on federal and Indian lands as well as offshore. Given the level of fraternization between the federal employees targeted in the report and gas and oil industry representatives, it is difficult to imagine that industry did not benefit from the indiscretion. The extent of those benefits has yet to be determined, but taxpayers could certainly have suffered — as could have public lands. ...
MMS collected $11 billion from mining and drilling companies that extracted resources from public lands and in offshore locations. That is a significant sum — and is one of the largest sources of non-tax revenue collected by the federal government. As such, the ethics rules governing that office's operation should be as stringent as possible to avoid conflicts of interests, their potential, or even appearance. Instead, it appears the exact opposite was true. ...
To have that special treatment trickle down to the administrative oversight level just reinforces Americans' cynicism that clearly did not develop in a vacuum.
It also more sharply draws into focus the importance of going slowly when considering offering more public resources to the gas, oil and mining industries. If the lands and waters — and the minerals they contain — are worth no more than a night of partying, an afternoon at a football game or a trip to New Orleans to those in charge of collecting money on those lands' — and Americans' — behalf, then a cultural shift at the Interior Department is in order.
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On the Net:
http://www.durangoherald.com
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Sept. 12
The (Bergen County, N.J.) Record, on role models and teen pregnancy:
Those who were able to convince delegates at the Republican National Convention that the pregnancy of vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's daughter is a "private matter" might find a tougher audience in New Jersey, where the issue of teen pregnancy is not so lightly dismissed. ...
Although impressionable adolescents can't be sheltered from news of high-profile pregnancies, that must be countered with the opinions of those who really matter in young lives — parents, adult friends and relatives, teachers, medical professionals and religious authorities. ...
High-profile cases of teen pregnancy — Bristol Palin or Jamie Lynn Spears — could send the wrong signal to other teens. The personal, social, financial, educational and medical stakes are high, and our children need to know where we stand.
Bristol Palin's pregnancy gives all of us one more opportunity to make that point.
In her case, the confluence of a strong family, a solid religious upbringing and abstinence-only educational programs did not succeed in preventing teen pregnancy. ...
If growing numbers of children having children is a social condition we're willing to endure, then silently accepting that as a personal matter is appropriate. But if we feel that children need to be educated about becoming responsible parents at the proper time — and we wish to convey our beliefs about the role of sex in teenagers' lives — then we must talk about it often and fearlessly: over the dinner table, in the classroom, in the halls of government, from religious pulpits, in the media and elsewhere.
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On the Net:
http://www.northjersey.com
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Sept. 17
The (London) Guardian, on Petraeus's departure from Iraq:
The departure of General David Petraeus from Iraq yesterday was accompanied by little of the triumphalism that marked previous attempts by the Bush administration to claim that a corner had been turned in this bitter war. Gen Petraeus's departing words were not sotto voce — they rarely are — but his assessment of the Iraq he leaves was cautious and sober. ...
Gen. Petraeus can claim three achievements for his third and final tour. He recognised the significance of the Sunni al-Sahwa, the so-called Awakening movement, which developed autonomously and before the surge swung into action. The US general saw that it could be used productively. His policy of creating outposts of U.S. troops reduced sectarian tension. And finally he recognised that there could be no military victory in Iraq. All that could be achieved was to prepare the ground for a political solution.
But this has yet to be done, and there are inherent contradictions in a policy predicated on improving the state capacity of Nouri al-Maliki's government. The first is that government's manifest concern with al-Sahwa, which the U.S. funds. ... The second is that the greater Mr al-Maliki's executive power becomes, the more he may be tempted to forge his own course, irrespective of U.S. pleas to include the Sunni tribal leaders. This conflict is far from over.
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On the Net:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/17/usforeignpolicy.iraq
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Sept. 15
The Jerusalem Post, on Lehman Brothers turmoil and global markets:
Henry, Emanuel and Mayer Lehman formed Lehman Brothers in 1850, in Alabama, to trade in commodities, mostly cotton. Eight years later, having shifted to investment banking, they opened a New York office.
Fast forward a century and a half: Lehman Brothers (no member of the actual family has headed the company since the 1950s) announced yesterday that it was filing for bankruptcy protection. Its fate and that of the global economy seem intertwined. ...
The drama began at 6 p.m. Sept. 12, when US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernake met with key bankers and decided that the United States government would not bail out Lehman, America's fourth-largest bank — it would not, to be precise, provide prospective buyers of the bank with loan guarantees. ...
The U.S. government was telling Lehman: You and others in the subprime market took greater risks than you should have, and profited from them. ...
The good news is that most U.S. banks are on solid ground. So we won't be seeing 1920s-like scenes of bankers selling apples on Wall Street. ...
But there's no doubt that Americans are in for a bumpy ride. For the situation to improve, housing prices must be stabilized to reflect their true value.
Paradoxically, Israelis have little to worry about. Israel has no subprime mortgage market, and so is largely immune to the kind of crisis that has hit the U.S. ...
That said, Israel is part of the global economy; if it slows down, so will ours.
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On the Net:
http://www.jpost.com
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Sept. 17
China Daily News, Hong Kong, on U.S. financial woes and understanding China:
Besides being disastrous for the US, the US subprime mortgage crisis has also adversely affected China's economy. However, it also presents an opportunity for Americans to gain a more sober understanding of China. ...
American financial institutions sold the subprime mortgages through mortgage-backed securities (MBO) and collateralized debt obligations (CDO) to their European, Japanese, Canadian, Chinese and Indian counterparts. The confirmed losses worldwide have reached $395.8 billion, while estimated losses stand at about $995 billion. ...
In the past few years the US Congress has passed many bills trying to force China to raise the exchange rate of its currency against the US dollar. Some lawmakers have alleged that the renminbi's low exchange rate caused the US economic imbalance.
Now we know the real cause. Where were all the financial experts when the US economy deteriorated to its current state? Shouldn't US economic regulators be held responsible for this mess, too? ...
If the US wants to convince the world that the current economic downturn was caused by some "unintended missteps" now is the perfect time to take the responsibility for the subprime fiasco. There just might be something good coming out of this economic calamity if the US proves it is as responsible as it claims to be.
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On the Net:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2008-09/17/content_7033424.htm
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Sept. 15
The Moscow Times, on war in Georgia:
There was a jovial atmosphere last Saturday night in the "Stop Russia" bar in Tbilisi after Russian troops started to pull back from their checkpoints deep in Georgian territory. ...
The ominous mood that had gripped the city seems to have lightened in recent days, particularly since the huge "Stop Russia" demonstrations a couple of weeks ago, which according to official estimates brought more than a million people onto the streets. ...
But reminders of the war are hard to ignore — particularly the thousands of internal refugees who fled the fighting and took refuge in empty state buildings and hastily constructed tent camps. Ironically, some of them have occupied a dilapidated block, which used to be the Russian military command center for the Caucasus. Once this building housed some of Moscow's spooks, but now its inhabitants are dining on emergency-aid packages supplied by Washington.
This is a real tragedy, which has only compounded the last one. Georgia is still struggling to deal with tens of thousands more people who were displaced by the civil wars here in the early 1990s. Many of them still live in suspended animation in temporary accommodation, sustained by dreams of eventually going home. For 15 years, they've been a visible symbol of Georgia's lost territories and a physical embodiment of the desire to win them back. But now those breakaway regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, are effectively Russian protectorates, and their chances of returning seem bleaker than ever.
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On the Net:
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/1043/42/370938.htm