Reaganomics & Generation Y

I remember the 80's. Even I get caught off guard by one of the super cheesy VH1 specials from which, after multiple idle hours, I emerge from far more self-aware than I was before.

It's easy for my generation to discount the 80's. We were elementry school kids who came of age in the 90's as the X generation emerged in a contrast so direct it bordered on ridicule of the hyper perky over-the-topness of the 80's.

But we should not discount the tangible fondness for this bygone Reagan-era. Many recall it as an era of good. Economies boomed. Communism fell. Diplomacy pushed it. The kids just said no.

Reagonomics and free enterprise is considered by many the crux of these grand times. Keep the scandalous government out of the market, because they don't understand it. Leave it up to the businessmen to execute business. Let the Treasury set rates that respond to the free market flow of business. Its Capitalism at its best. But its ideology.

Ideology is perfection. Execution of ideology must account for human error. And the form of ideological capitalism enacted by the Bush regime reflects human error, albeit you can argue, premeditated human error.

The difference between Ronald Reagan, and George Bush Jr/Sr is that Ronald Reagan led a country, whereas the Bushes have acted more like agents of Big Oil (among other wealthy establishments of Old White Men). They're annoyed by government and governing.

The tax reform act of 1986 was a bipartisan attempt to broaden the tax base and eliminate tax favoratism spearheaded by Reagan. It has proven to be a failure because the trickle down never trickled down. But it is evidence that Reagan was a President who governed, not one bucked the government, to say nothing of the Constitation.

Ethics has become a hippie notion in the Bush regime. It makes sense that the lack of ethics extends to business, where execution is do what you want but make sure hit the bottom line.

It's the bottom line, stupid.

But the bottomline is usually spun or inflated or both so that the market thinks it's good. And in the short run it works and companies successfully trick the market. And they reward themselves with parties, business trips for pleasure, and agregious executive compensation. And to keep up with the Lehman's, other companies follow suit. Keep executives happy. Keep shareholders happy. And fuck stakeholders.

The market always calls the bluff in the long run. And that's when companies like Lehman's fail.

People want to know why Lehman's failed. But they want specifics. Faulty accounting? Bad lending practices? There are countless factors. But the fundamental problem is unethical leadership.

Lehman's is a failure. And it's failed CEO, Richard S. Fuld, Jr., will live with the pain of that failure for the rest of his life. But I'm sure the $45 million he earned in 2007 will ease the pain of failure. It's his low level employees that will actually suffer the real effects.

How's this affect Gen Y? Well, quite simply: GEN Y is a generation with unlimited potential and little opportunity. And that opportunity becomes less with every new fiscal regulation removed, and every unethical business practic practiced.

The ideals of Reagonomics have failed under two Bushes. There was a trickle down effect alright. But it wasn't money. It was failure. And it trickled down from the Bush regime into big business.

And now my generation won't just be the first generation to move back home after college. We'll be the first generation to face moving home after 30.

At least Big Oil still making money. For now. Bush made sure of that.

For your consideration:

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/live-blogging-questions-for-richard-s-fuld-jr/ Fuld admits that lack of government regulation was a factor.

Quit blaming poor wittle George Bush for everything. There are plenty assholes in his family to blame, like: His second cousin.

Lehman Brothers Investment Management Director George Herbert Walker IV, second cousin to U. S. President George Walker Bush, dismissed the proposal, going so far as to actually apologize to other members of the Lehman Brothers executive committee for the idea of bonus reduction having been suggested. He wrote, "Sorry team. I am not sure what's in the water at Neuberger Berman. I'm embarrassed and I apologize."