Can’t Anyone Fix Anything?

Did you ever wake up in the 5AM dark and say with a snarl, “Why can’t ANYONE fix ANYTHING when so much is wrong?”

No, I didn’t just wake up on the wrong side of the bed (does any mother still say that to her kid?).

First there was the business news. You’ll pardon me for starting there; I work in business news. I have to pay attention. So this morning – when we still have 14 million people officially unemployed – and probably 14 million or so more who’ve given up or are underemployed or in the black or underground economy – all anyone on the business cable channels wanted to talk about was whether the Federal Reserve would announce “Operation Twist” when its 2 day meeting ended this afternoon. Which sure enough – since I am writing this toward the end of the day – the Fed did. (It didn’t help to give Wall Street what it wanted; the market tanked big time anyhow).

And what is Operation Twist? Well – you can be sure it’s not the Fed’s name for a rather complex monetary policy. In very simple terms (which is all I understand anyhow) the central bank will sell some of its short term treasury holdings – and buy more long term ones. Which should push long term interest rates down even more than they already are. Which supposedly would make mortgages and other longer term loans more attractive. Thus magically resuscitating the moribund housing market – without doing anything to change bank policies which have made it almost impossible for normal people to qualify for mortgages. Or, in many cases, restructure old ones.

Nor is Operation Twist likely to improve consumers’ sour attitudes about the economy. So they will buy more stuff again. So small businesses can start hiring again. Even with lower interest rates, how many small business people do you know who will go running out to their local bank for a loan now – so they can hire the additional workers they don’t need to keep up with the non-existent growth in demand for their products?

Which brings me to the next issue – also part of the morning’s business news set up. Companies like Oracle –which makes software – are doing just fine, thank you, because big businesses are continuing to increase productivity by buying more complex software --- so they won’t have to hire any more people. Maybe ever. And maybe can even lay off a few more employees.

Which sent me out into the fog – wondering how all those jobless Americans can EVER find decent paying work again. And how the 90 percent of Americans who do have jobs can ever again feel confident about keeping them.

Then came the real downer. My customary early morning walk around a section of northern New Jersey which was badly flooded by Irene and then a week later - flooded again by Lee. Darling little houses with proudly tended flower gardens. Now stripped of all personal goods. Stripped, actually, down to the studs because plasterboard tends to crumble and dissolve in 5, 6, 8 feet of dirty river water.

Whole streets in normally vibrant neighborhoods are just dead now. No one living in the stripped-down houses. No kids biking to school. No one going off to work. Just – nothing.

One big cardboard sign scrawled in red saying it all – “FEMA – BUY ME OUT”.

How I wish I were still reporting local news. There’s a follow up story at every ruined house. Maybe even a business story in local contractors suddenly “flooded” with new work. But the microwave trucks are long gone now – on to the next big – or small -- story. My blue funk turns black.

Then on a pile of newspapers waiting for pickup I see a photo of Texas Governor Rick Perry – now a GOP Presidential candidate -- wearing a suit and tie and a big grin – and brandishing a pistol for no apparent reason. And later, on the car radio, some analyst opining once again that all those tax increases President Obama put in his debt reduction plan are just red meat for the Democratic base, not a prayer of passing the GOP-controlled House in gridlocked Washington as 24/7 electioneering takes over. Welcome to Greece.

I drive 10 miles out of my way – again - because Morris County is waiting for federal funds and design approval to rebuild a tiny bridge on a heavily travelled road that got washed out by an Irene-swollen, raging stream. More than 3 weeks ago. On a regular basis - multiplied by hundreds of car trips -- how much extra greenhouse gas does that add up to?

Why can’t ANYONE fix ANYTHING?? Does it seem to you that anyone – anyone at all with a name you can recognize – is living in the real world? Or even living???

No wonder I’m peevish.