Wall Street = Main Street; an apology from the federal government

The use of Wall Street & Main Street language is misleading, destructive, and will continue to cause more harm than good.

Considering the headlines this week, I cannot think of a better example of how thinking and speaking in terms of black and white are continuing to create harmful unintended consequences for the country. Both politicians and news headlines have been using the language of Wall Street & Main Street to describe what they see as a pull between two seemingly different and competing sets of interests.

Framing the current situation in that way does not do justice to all the complexity involved. My argument is that the use of this language in a way that superficially pits one against the other is extremely dangerous, and our political leaders should immediately cease doing it. Here's what I'd like to hear from our president or a congressional leader:

“My fellow Americans, you’ve heard a lot in recent days and weeks about instability in the financial markets, about institutions in jeopardy of failing, and about huge potential consequences for the entire U.S. economy. It is reality that the country faces huge challenges in the weeks and months ahead, but right now I don’t want to repeat what you already know – rather, I want to issue two huge apologies.

Firstly, your federal government has mislead you by speaking in a way that pitted the interests of our financial institutions against the well being of every American. By using vague phrases like “Wall Street” and “Main Street”, we created confusion and division in the country and lead people to think that in the U.S. there are bad people and good people, winners and losers, deserving and undeserving. We should have helped the country understand all the complexity at play in this situation, as that is true leadership, but instead we remained on the surface, and in so doing we’ve only encouraged Americans to act against their own interests. The truth is that all of our well beings are tied to healthy financial markets and institutions, and that competitive and profitable financial companies are good for us all. Nobody in the private sector should be demonized or held responsible for leading us where we are today, as the truth is that financial institutions and their executives are hardly to blame for this current mess – in fact, your federal government dealt them a shitty hand, provided them a terrible environment to do business, and we ourselves are the ones to blame.

Yes, it’s true. Your federal government is the main perpetrator of this current mess. Due to years of inserting itself into the markets via institutions like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, supporting regulations that went outside the boundaries of purely protecting your freedom and opportunity, attempting to centrally manage the money supply through the Federal Reserve, etc., the country now finds itself in a very unpleasant situation. Believe me, your political leaders had the best of intentions in trying to “help” you, but in doing so, we overstepped our boundaries and the constitution, and that has resulted in destructive, unintended consequences and more harm than good. We have learned our lesson once and for all, and from now on your federal government will get its hands out of your lives and allow you to truly experience economic freedom. We will protect, rather than provide, your right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; and in so doing, we will live up to our mandate, and in the process help enable a prosperous and free America once again.”