Way too many regional residents aren’t paying attention to what is going on in the country (let alone the world), and how consequences of decisions made over the horizon affect us here. Often these repercussions filter down indirectly, mixed in with other factors so it takes time and work to pick out the threads.

Not so with the arrogance and greed of Wall Street executives and investors, particularly Bank of America management.  After getting billions of dollars in TARP money to help cover their risk overreach, CEO Ken Lewis and company decided to close BofA branches, including the one in Coos Bay. Not only does this reduce competition and add B of A customer inconvenience, but it eliminates some jobs when the Obama administration is trying to lower unemployment. It’s a cold slap in the face.

However, thanks only to Obama’s paymaster, BofA executive bonuses are being cut 50 to 90 percent. Bank apologists complain that this cut will only drive top talent away to competitors who don’t still owe bailout money and aren’t restricted. So the executives who drove banks into insolvency are going to be hired to replace those who had better judgment? And there aren’t lower level executives who could move up and do the job? Or better yet, why not hire more circumspect Canadian bank executives as replacements? 

This specious argument could be properly handled by restoring steeply progressive income tax rates so all those lavishly compensated financial executives played on the same level field. Some of that revenue could fund universal, affordable health care. However, it is a certainty that Republican congressmen wouldn’t stand for that kind of solution.

But most Americans, including those here, are oblivious to the connections between closing the economic class gap, minimizing congressional corruption and their own declining quality of life. They don’t know and don’t want to know, so they can’t act.

Those excessive BofA executive bonuses could have kept the local branch open. Of course, you won’t hear that kind of talk on Fox News.

John Zimmerman

Coos Bay