In Whom Can We Trust?
In Whom Can We Trust?
The oil rig debacle in the Gulf is just the latest in what’s become a tortuously long list of examples of them failing US. Seven weeks into the disastrous explosion of the deepwater rig, the underwater gusher continues unabated. BP’s Plan A didn’t work, nor did Plan B, plugging with golf balls was a no-go, someone’s suggesting stopping it with hair clippings! Big Business has no solution – and it appears Big Government is just as clueless.
The commandant of the Coast Guard is indeed resplendent in his uniform, but wouldn’t you prefer to see him smeared in oil, having announced an end to the leak? The stunning inaction on the part of a government which is only digging deeper into taxpayers’ pockets 
rightly has both Americans on the Gulf Coast – who see their livelihoods smothering under the muck – and the rest wondering, “Is this Obama’s Katrina?”
Whom can we trust – to get the job done? To keep us safe, to protect our food, to enforce the regulations? At this writing, the stock market is once again on a heart stopping roller coaster ride as the financial flu appears to be taking hold in Europe. Monday morning quarterbacks have already pointed out how simply enforcing regulations that had been on the books could have acted as a brake on excesses that wiped $7 trillion in investments out of worldwide portfolios.
A few weeks ago, law enforcement officials at the state and federal levels lauded their ‘success’ in nabbing the would-be Time Square bomber. They know they (and we) were lucky – a tee shirt vendor saw something funky and pointed it out. It was passengers, not air marshalls that discovered the would-be terrorist on a flight near Detroit. See something – say something does work. Maybe it’s time for the government to DO SOMETHING.
Oh – and on the subject of trust? You might be curious to know whom regular Americans regard as trustworthy. A recent (November 09) Gallup poll found that nurses ranked highest on measures of trust and integrity. Receiving “very high” marks for honesty and ethical standards:
- 83% - Nurses
- 66% - Druggists
- 65% - Medical Doctors
- 63% - Police officers
- 62% - Engineers
- 50% - Clergy
- 23% - Journalists
- 19% - Bankers
- 15% - State Governors
- 13% - Lawyers
- 11% - Senators
- 9% -Congressmen
- 6% - Car salesmen
(see the complete list at http://www.gallup.com/poll/
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