I dedicate this column to an American hero who will not permit me to use his name.
The movie “Top Gun,” with Tom Cruise playing Maverick, was one of the greatest ever made, though not for reasons people think.
“Top Gun” was a movie about fear. About courage. About courage
overcoming fear. And above all, about the courage to take risks for a
higher cause.
When pundits say we need less risk, they could not be more wrong. There
is a difference between taking the risk to finance the next Apple
Computer and taking the risks of day-trading speculative bubbles with
borrowed money.
Recently I was looking at a military bomber jacket on eBay. The jacket
could be bought for almost nothing. I looked at the site of the
gentleman selling it. Everything was in the same size, for the same
branch of the service. The seller had just returned from Iraq.
We exchanged e-mails. This person had just come back; was jobless; his
bank was charging him high interest for limited credit. He had little
money and was worried about being homeless. He told me that he would
throw in his medals for anyone who bought the jacket. I told him:
Never, ever sell your medals. I wanted to tell his story. He made me
swear never to tell his name.
This guy is a hero. We send him to Iraq, and while we pass our tax
cuts, we don’t give him body armor. When he comes home, he gets screwed
by his bank, can’t get hired for a job, and while he nurses wounds
received in our service, he offers to sell his medals to pay for his
dinner.
Meanwhile: We give huge taxpayer bailouts to banks. We give huge
taxpayer bailouts to AIG, which passes much of that money back to banks
(many of them foreign), while giving million-dollar bonuses to people
who lost $60 billion in one quarter. Then, benefiting from low interest
and cheap money from taxpayers, banks raise credit card rates for good
customers and refuse to lend to good businesses.
We live at the end of our Gilded Age, when the Bonfires of the Vanities
are being doused, when the Masters of the Universe are begging for
bailouts. If you take risks for our country, you get slapped down. If
you take risks for your greed, you get bailed out.
We are reduced to the place where The Washington Post cancels its
Business section during a financial crisis. When we can’t find the best
people to fill jobs at the Treasury. When a hero who risked his life
considers selling his medals for his dinner while CNBC asks Mr.
Stanford, who will soon have his rendezvous with the law, How does it
feel to be a billionaire? (Answer: It feels great!)
As I’ve written in recent columns, I am bullish on America. The next
great jobs wave is clearly in view. Recovery will come, and sooner than
people think. Don’t ever bet against America.
Like Maverick, who conquered his demons and was carried off by his
brothers in triumph, my young friend will keep his medals and triumph
in a career that will no doubt be brilliant. Like all of those who have
built this country, the content of his character will triumph over the
Gilded Age of our times.
Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen and Bill Alexander,
then chief deputy majority whip of the House. He holds an LL.M. degree
in international financial law from the London School of Economics. He
can be read on The Hill’s Pundits Blog and reached at
brentbbi@webtv.net.