Surely - There is More to Talk About Than Shirley
For the past few days the air waves and print media have been dominated by a story about former United States Department of Agriculture director, Shirley Sherrod, who was erroneously forced to resign.
After a heavily edited video of her giving an address in March to an NAACP meeting was posted on a blogger's website a controversy broke out and began to snowball. In her remarks, Ms. Sherrod described her own attitude when a white farmer sought her help with his farm which was about to be foreclosed on. Taken completely out of context those remarks were construed to be racist.
Eventually, the complete, unedited version of the video was aired and showed her true disposition. But, more importantly, the actual farmer that she helped came forward to speak on her behalf. As a result, Shirley Sherrod has received numerous apologies from conservative talk show hosts, the people responsible for her job loss as well as President Obama.
It is great that this miscarriage of judgment has been put to right. However, the incident has completely overtaken the news media at the cost of all other events right now.
What else is has been happening besides the Shirley controversy?
On Wednesday, the President signed into law the biggest rewrite of financial regulations since the Great Depression. This is a two thousand three hundred page bill that actually promises to protect the average American.
Congress has agreed to create a Consumer financial Protection Bureau that the Federal Reserve will pay for. It will come at a budget of around five hundred million dollars a year.
Since one of the goals is to prevent home buyers from getting larger loans than they can pay for, this bill could have a direct affect on the housing market. Some people are of the opinion that this legislation will actually make it harder for individuals to obtain financing.
Following years of banking deregulation, banks are now scheduled to have hundreds of new rules written and tougher enforcement of those that are currently in place. President Obama has also vowed that there will be no more tax-funded financial bailouts.
This was important legislation that is not really being talked about in the shadow of the Shirley Sherrod story.
Of course, things could be worse. We could still be focusing on Mel Gibson's rant or Lindsey Lohan's legal problems.
Copyright 2010 "Surely - There is More to Talk About Than Shirley"
Claudette Millette, Broker, Owner, The Buyers' Counsel - (508) 881-6230
Find the Right Buyer Broker in MetroWest Massachusetts
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