Web Letters: Biden v. Summers

The average American can relate to Biden, and he can relate to them. But, since the whole world has been infected with "free trade," it would be interesting to know how he voted on NAFTA and similar trade agreements. His voting record might give us some idea how effective he would be in protecting the middle-class worker. As to more bailouts for the banks, it will be interesting to see if reduced compensation for CEOs will reduce banks' interest in bailouts. While I have no philosophical objection to nationalization, I would prefer anti-trust action against them so that they would not be too big to fail. Further, any stimulus should go to commercial banks and not investment banks. There needs to be legislation that separates the two types of banks. Interest rates need to rise in commercial banks, so that they can go back to their original purpose of lending money to businesses and individuals. One reason for the interest in "bubble" economics is that low interest rates discouraged savings. As a progressive, I prefer a decentralized economy where management is close to production and has an intimate knowledge of the market that supports the business. If a business is too big to fail, it probably will fail, because it becomes an absentee owner who lacks the knowledge to run the company or companies it owns. For similar reasons, I prefer the development of national economies, as opposed to a globalized economy, which becomes too big to fail, but will fail, because it is too big to control.

Pervis James Casey

Riverside, CA