I think [Mark ] Mykleby\u2019s letter gets at something very important: We cannot fix what ails America unless we look honestly at our own roles in creating our own problems. We \u201d\u201d both parties \u201d\u201d created an awful set of incentives that encouraged our best students to go to Wall Street to create crazy financial instruments instead of to Silicon Valley to create new products that improve people\u2019s lives. We \u201d\u201d both parties \u201d\u201d created massive tax incentives and cheap money to make home mortgages available to people who really didn\u2019t have the means to sustain them. And we \u201d\u201d both parties \u201d\u201d sent BP out in the gulf to get us as much oil as possible at the cheapest price. (Of course, we expected them to take care, but when you\u2019re drilling for oil beneath 5,000 feet of water, stuff happens.)<\/p>\n
As Pogo would say, we have met the enemy and he is us.<\/p>\n
But that means we\u2019re also the solution \u201d\u201d if we\u2019re serious. Look, we managed to survive 9\/11 without letting it destroy our open society or rule of law. We managed to survive the Wall Street crash without letting it destroy our economy. Hopefully, we will survive the BP oil spill without it destroying our coastal ecosystems. But we dare not press our luck.<\/p>\n
We have to use this window of opportunity to insulate ourselves as much as possible against all the bad things we cannot control and get serious about fixing the problems that we can control. We need to make our whole country more sustainable. So let\u2019s pass an energy-climate bill that really reduces our dependence on Middle East oil. Let\u2019s pass a financial regulatory reform bill that really reduces the odds of another banking crisis. Let\u2019s get our fiscal house in order, as the economy recovers. And let\u2019s pass an immigration bill that will enable us to attract the world\u2019s top talent and remain the world\u2019s leader in innovation.<\/p>\n