1999: When government matters no more

Real Estate Weekly, Jan 13, 1999 by Thomas F. Campenni

Happy New Year! As I write this, it certainly seems that 1999 will continue in the same vein as last year. The economy is cruising along at full speed without pause. People are having a great time celebrating the holidays without a care in the world . We are doing great. It seems that what is happening in City Hall, Albany or especially Washington has nothing to do with our everyday life.

In the last couple of weeks we have bombed Iraq; saw the resignation of the incoming House Speaker; impeached President Clinton; and the United States Senate is preparing for his trial. Yet the State of the Union is sound. Could it be that the government really isn't needed for the functioning of everyday life? Perhaps the best government is one that governs least. Between Clinton and Congress we have come damn close to not having a functional government at all.

Since the election of the "Man from Hope," the Congress has been trying with all its might to oppose him. In fact, they have done so well in their opposition, that contrary to Clintonian alliteration about serious accomplishment, he is closer to Coolidge and Hoover than Franklin Roosevelt. President Clinton has great vision, but has not been able to execute any legislation to further that vision.

Both Congress and Clinton take credit for balancing the budget and introducing surpluses for the first time in many years. After careful examination, the only thing our Washington politicos balanced was perhaps their own personal checkbook. A balanced budget has occurred only because they are using the Social Security surplus payments from the Baby Boomers as if it were general tax revenue instead of unfunded pensions. What the President and his Republican Congressional accomplices have done takes no financial acumen. Raiding the pension fund and calling it income to pay your bills, then declaring a dividend and watching your stock price rise would get most CFOs and boards a few years in Allentown.

The city on the Potomac does not have to conform to the world the rest of us live in. Pronouncements, statements and thoughts are the currency of the realm. Accomplishments are measured not in the doing, but in the press release announcing the contemplating of the doing. The thought by the residents in the nation's capital is that perception is more important than actuality.

Since the fall of Nixon, our elected leaders have more and more relied on thought over deed. With the ascension of these Watergate children to political power, the ritual circle has remained unbroken. The Wagnerian crescendo of a Nixonian Valhalla has been replaced by the Moliereian comedy of Livingston and Clinton. Shakespeare would be writing "Much Ado About Nothing," not "Richard III," if he were in our capitol.

In one respect, we should be happy that the doings of Washington are now seen in the same light as an episode from "Dallas." It is nice that we can afford to no longer care if our president and representatives are serious men and women. They amuse us with their infidelities, adulteries and sordid personal lives. We focus on whether they used drugs as college students or can recite a passage from Deuteronomy. Their view on abortion is more important to a sizable portion of the electorate than anything else.

Perhaps our elected officials are no longer people who have gravidas because we are no longer an electorate who require it. We now have a political process where millions of dollars are solicited and called "soft money." There is nothing soft about being strong-armed for a dollar. President Clinton constantly speaks of the need to reform American political campaigns at every $10,000 per person event he attends.

Vice President Gore has no moral problems in raising money from anyone anywhere, as long as, to use his words, "there is no controlling legal authority." Departing Speaker Newt Gingrich, also known as "PAC Man," never refused a dollar either, if it could help elect him or a friend. Bebe Rebozo must he asking God for a pardon in light of today's political games.

If you look at it in that light, then the inhabitants of Washington are just another lobbying group. These are people who may or may not have some tangential impact on our life. We won't be having them in for dinner - but maybe we will meet them for a drink. Besides, we don't have that much time to dwell on insignificant matters. We have a living to make.

(The author is a real estate consultant advising owners, condominiums and co-ops. He welcomes responses in writing at P.O. Box 724, Old Greenwich, CT 06870 or by calling 203-637-5621).