Sense on Cents

Having broached the topic of the launch of The Volcker Alliance in my commentary yesterday, I welcome drawing further attention to it today for the simple reason that the needs are so great.

We need to change the debate in America so we can change the outcome. Future generations deserve nothing less.

To that end, I welcome highlighting this Statement by The Chairman:

Trust in the Amer­i­can gov­ern­ment has been de­clin­ing for decades. Trust rests on con­fi­dence and too of­ten gov­ern­ment, at all lev­els, in the eyes of its cit­i­zens, has been un­able to re­spond ef­fec­tively to the chal­lenges of the day.

There is an ur­gent need to re­store trust and pride in the way our pub­lic in­sti­tu­tions im­ple­ment poli­cies – from the White House and Con­gress to state­houses, cities, and towns across our coun­try and in democ­ra­cies around the world.

We need to pay more at­ten­tion to how things work, to how poli­cies are ad­min­is­tered, to how we can com­bine ef­fec­tive­ness with im­ple­men­ta­tion, to how pri­vate ini­tia­tives and in­cen­tives can be al­lied with pub­lic pur­pose.

We need to pro­ceed with the prac­ti­cal un­der­stand­ing of what needs to be done to im­ple­ment pol­icy – ap­pro­pri­ate ad­min­is­tra­tive arrange­ments, trained man­agers, smart tech­nolo­gies and tech­ni­cal ex­per­tise, strong in­cen­tives for pub­lic ser­vice rather than pri­vate gain – while rec­og­niz­ing the con­tri­bu­tion that pri­vate mar­kets can pro­vide.

These are mat­ters that should rightly com­mand our at­ten­tion. But, with ex­cep­tions, they do not.

It is time to do some­thing about it.

Indeed, it is time. In fact, it is overtime to do something. How might the Volcker Alliance go about doing “something about it?” Let’s review its Mission Statement:

The Vol­cker Al­liance was launched in 2013 to ad­dress the chal­lenge of ef­fec­tive ex­e­cu­tion of pub­lic poli­cies and to re­build pub­lic trust in gov­ern­ment. As a non­par­ti­san or­ga­ni­za­tion based in New York City, the Vol­cker Al­liance aims to cat­alyze new think­ing and ac­tion with re­spect to fed­eral, state, and lo­cal gov­ern­ment in the U.S. and abroad.

Work­ing in part­ner­ship with ed­u­ca­tional in­sti­tu­tions, gov­ern­men­tal or­ga­ni­za­tions, busi­ness groups, and pub­lic in­ter­est en­ter­prises, the Vol­cker Al­liance will spon­sor re­search on gov­ern­ment per­for­mance, make ac­tion­able rec­om­men­da­tions for pol­icy and im­ple­men­ta­tion, and pro­vide a fo­rum for dis­cus­sion of new ideas and tools to strengthen pol­icy ex­e­cu­tion at all lev­els of gov­ern­ment. Be­yond that, the Al­liance is com­mit­ted to tak­ing ac­tions that con­tribute to a high de­gree of con­fi­dence in both the de­ci­sion-mak­ing processes of gov­ern­ment and in its ad­min­is­tra­tive man­age­ment.

The Vol­cker Al­liance seeks to rekin­dle in­tel­lec­tual, prac­ti­cal, and aca­d­e­mic in­ter­est in the im­ple­men­ta­tion of pol­icy – the “nuts and bolts” of gov­er­nance – and serve as a cat­a­lyst for sus­tained gov­ern­ment im­prove­ment.

Recall that when questioned about what type of government our founding fathers had formed, Ben Franklin responded:

A republic — if you can keep it.

I commend Volcker and those in his alliance for fighting the good fight in trying to restore health to our republic. I endorse him and his colleagues. I welcome helping them spread word of their mission and the cause so that the incipient tyranny and growing cronyism that is gaining a greater foothold in our nation can be addressed, mitigated, and hopefully ultimately eliminated.

Navigate  accordingly.

Larry Doyle

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I have no business interest with any entity referenced in this commentary. The opinions expressed are my own. I am a proponent of real transparency within our markets so that investor confidence and investor protection can be achieved.

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