Power, Lost and Found: America At Century’s End 547transactions but the omnipresent fees for canceled checks, late payments, ATM
withdrawals and such] grew from 11 percent to 21 percent. That brought with
it huge debt, both public and consumer, as financial firms, unlike factories,
really produced no commodities of value to sell and so loaned and borrowed
money. The government, with its increasing military budgets and lower taxes
of the Reagan and early Bush years, in particular relied on loans to keep the
U.S. running. That in turned caused massive deficits in relation to the central
banks of Europe and Asia, and China in particular, which now holds more
than 1.5 trillion U.S. dollars, as the U.S. kept borrowing to simply pay its bills.
The repeal of banking regulations specifically, and the frenzy of financial
deregulation more generally, created the subprime mortgage, banking, and
stock market crises of 2008 forward, and may very well create an upheaval in
the insurance industry shortly. Deregulation, which was supposedly celebrat-
ing the “free” market, not only damaged consumers, but caused disarray in the
industries that it was intended to help—banking, securities, stocks, insur-
ance—by allowing for renewed speculation, unsound mergers, and irrespon-
sible lending.
So, while Clinton could boast that incomes and wealth grew for all
Americans, he had helped lay the groundwork for the economic disasters of
the early 21st century. He had his own personal disaster as well, which badly
damaged his political career and his legacy. Clinton had a reputation as a
womanizer and had a brief affair with a young intern, Monica Lewinsky.
Lewinsky in turn told friends, who went to the media with the story. Congress
launched an investigation, during which Clinton was questioned about other
women with whom he had been involved. He denied all, but then Lewinsky
offered proof of their escapades together–a dress of hers with Clinton’s semen
on it–and Congress subsequently impeached the president for perjuring him-
self in his denial. Compared to the crimes of Watergate or Iran-Contra, this
was absurd rather than criminal, yet the Republican Party went after Clinton
with a vengeance. He survived the impeachment trial, but his agenda stalled
and, outside of bombing Iraq and waging a war in Kosovo to drive out
Serbian forces which had taken over the government there–both measures
which gained him public approval–the president did little. By the end of his
second term, he had rallied, and he left office with high approval ratings, but
general disappointment because his personal irresponsibility had made politi-
cal reform impossible. Still, the country was relatively well-off and safe when