National asset

Or heroine, though hero is a much abused word in American English these days. Not to malign veterans, the military, or anyone doing their duty as police, firemen, EMT, or related activities: but really.

I went to an informal talk today given by Sheila Bair, former head (2005-2011) of the US FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which guarantees bank depositors under $100k) who has had a knack for being in a problematic place at a problematic time (for instance, US Treasury in 2001-2 when Enron blew up). She is a slice of middle America - a plain-spoken, compassionate populist Republican when such a thing existed, a Bob Dole protégé. She spoke fondly of Dole, who was pro-disability, pro-women, and pro-poor (despite being 'wrong' on abortion, health care, and a hawk). Bair worked to preserve confidence in banks and stabilize the US financial system, keep taxpayer monies from being squandered, and rescue banks during the depths of the Great Recession. She did a pretty good job at a desperate time. Asked if she ever got emotional during the turmoil, she said it was only when she went to California on the request of Governor Schwarzenegger who was working to facilitate mortgage restructuring, and she saw a line of people waiting (presumably at a bank, hoping to restructure their mortgages, or to hear what mortgage program Schwarzenegger would announce) on a brutally hot day, which included elderly, families with kids, and the working class--all with fear on their faces.

She got mad that the Fed didn't draft mortgage requirements back in the early 2000s, is still mad that banking reform hasn't gone further, and that ordinary people have been shafted. And she's not even running for office, she tried that already.

There is a tide of powerful women talking about important issues--Yellen on income inequality, Lagarde on gender inequality, and Bair on issues of systemic risk, a sexy topic if ever I've heard of one. May they be heard well.