Bad for Wall Street but Good for Democracy, writes Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz

A good day for democracy

Joseph Stiglitz

A sad day for Wall Street but it may be a glorious day for democracy, writes Joseph Stiglitz. Now the U.S. Congress must draw up a plan in which the costs are borne by those who created the problem.
— Photo: AP

Polluter pays: Wall Street has polluted the U.S. economy with toxic mortgages. It should now pay for the cleanup.
What are we to make of the Congressional rejection of the Paulson proposal? The politics is simple: elections are a rare moment of accountability in our political process and all 435 members of the House of Representatives are up for re-election in a matter of weeks. The Bush administration has lost the confidence of the American people, and so has Wall Street.

Those who created the problem are now the doctors offering the prescriptions. A little while ago, we were told everything was fine. Then, less than six months ago, we were told that the economy was on the mend. Now we are told the patient needs a massive transfusion, but everyone can see that the patient is suffering from internal bleeding; in California, the number of foreclosures may already be outpacing voluntary sales. Yet nothing is being done to stem the haemorrhaging. read it all