What would Batman Do, Solution to the economy

I have often thought that Comic book geeks have a great moral compass, Take a moment to think about the type of things we geeks tend to read from a very early age. All great stories about moral responsibility’s, Where good always wins, where evil is punished, Where the people with Power DO right by the people. Where even when it comes at a great personal cost our hero always does what is not just right but what is needed.

Also I must say how often are great Social Ideas disguised in a narrative of a story, How often have our great thinkers disguised their grand thoughts on how society should be within the pages of fiction? I say this so that one will not discount what my thoughts on this come from.

Ill start with setting the stage for the story One that takes place in the No Mans Land comics, Gotham is rocked by a massive earthquake, Leaving it completely in a state of chaos, think a Katrina level event in New York City. The government gets to the point where they decided rather then to help Gotham (as the cost would be too much) To make it a no mans land, Wall it off and forget whats on the otherside.

As I seem to recall Batman decides that he can best help a first not as Batman but as Bruce Wayne, He goes to business that are fleeing what they see as a non-profit bearing venture, Business that would do better by packing up shop and leaving. He pleads his case that they need to invest and rebuild Gothams Economy and is rejected by them, He goes to the Government to plead with them, Giving a speech that is all about his Faith in the PEOPLE of the great city, Again he is rejected.

During all this he takes a plumber from one of the shelters and Gotham, To help him plead his case to these people, The plumber tells them of his family, Of course this does nothing. So the plumber tells Wayne, Why not, instead of going to these business people who don’t give a crap about the city or the people, GO TO THE PEOPLE THEMSELVES TO SAVE THE CITY, Why bother with these company’s that have failed the city, Instead make an investment with the people. Give Small business loans to the people of Gotham who have a dream, WHO still want to work but have been ground down by the corporations who abandon them at first sign of trouble?

Wayne bets his own riches on the lively hood of the PEOPLE, he gives loans from his own pocket to those trades man of the city to start their own business, and Gotham rebuilds with the help of the Citizens not the Corporations.

SO I ask you this, Why are we giving money to the business that rush to take jobs away from Americans to go to places in India, Mexico and China? Why are we giving money to Companies that care only for the bottom line? Why save a bank that will take our money and then hand out huge bonuses to the top people? Why give our tax money to people who throw huge party’s when they receive their bail out?

Maybe I am stupid? Maybe I am naïve and unaware how the economy works? But it seems to me we would be better served helping the hard working American’s who have skills and have worked under the boot of corporations for years that don’t give a rats ass about them? I don’t know maybe I don’t get how this all works, Maybe giving trillions to these Corporations is the answer…

Just some random musings, Give loans to be with Skills, or with ideas, form a committee, what ever is needed. That professor that has a design for a better ethanol engine give him some more grant money. That machinist who worked for 30 years with a company that worked with GM only to shut down, Let him start his own company, maybe he can hook up with that professor do build what he need.

Sure some would fail, but these people with there new found help would invest back into the economy, they would hire people, they would spend money on things, THEY WOULD PAY back these loans if they succeed.

And I am sure some would throw a party or two, BUT none on the scale of these banks.

Well i think you have a great idea there, but it would'nt work too well in reality. I think that we should start monitoring ALL money given to these bank, motor companies etc... Here in the UK one bank tried to use A LOT of the bail out money as "bonus" pay to there staff. I think if we stopped helping the big companies the levels of unemployment would reach critical which in my opinion would make crime levels rise and not to mention the strain on the econemy via Job seeker allowence, the dole and other benifits.

I think that we should highly monitor what every penny/cent of the money is going on, and we should also start, as you say, helping out the citizens. We need to help getting out of these money troubles together...

Fox

Ok, Im with you on that part, But these people with there new found money would also buy cars, put money into the banks and so on, In derectly would not the money find ways back into the system and banks as these people worked toward bettering their lives?

Originally posted by benrl
What would Batman do, solution to the economy

I'm not sure Batman is a good example here. After all, he's someone who inherited an inordinate about of money, is considered to be one of the elite and has repeatedly moved towards pushing an authoritarian surveillance-based society. He's often thought of as paranoid and overly secretive even amongst those that claim to be his friends. He's also an incredible hypocrite in that he comes down hard against those that operate outside the law despite spending the bulk of his waking hours doing exactly the same thing. He's also got a history of 'off-the-record' black budget projects.

I'd rather see Oliver Queen run an economy than Batman.

[edit on 7-3-2009 by Merriman Weir]

This is from something I found that describes Batman views on some other topics that I think go well in this.

Censorship

Frank Miller's seminal work The Dark Knight Returns (as well as its sequel The Dark Knight Strikes Again) is an excellent example of The Batman fighting against government censorship. Fighting against a corrupt government headed by Ronald Reagan and enforced by The Man of Steel, Batman leads the charge against those who would wish to usurp the rights of free men and women not only in the United States, but around the world as well. This is best exemplified in sequences throughout The Dark Knight Strikes Again in which the government utilizes super humans for cheap labor; The Flash's super-speed is used to power the entire eastern seaboard for free, while he remained in virtual slavery running endlessly in literal circles.


No National ID

Batman and Bruce Wayne (if you think about this psychologically, both are separate manifestations with differing personalities) are fiercely independent, and will strive to never adhere to another person's own sense of justice or order. A national ID represents unnecessary chains of bondage that would hamper Bruce Wayne's social life, as well as his ability to wage a war on injustice. To Batman, a creature of the shadows, an ID is of little consequence; as long as the police don't apprehend him. Just the idea of having to submit to another system of bureaucracy should be enough persuasion for Bruce Wayne to never ally himself with advocates of the national ID system.

"Ending Government Welfare"

one of Bruce Wayne's most humiliating failures before the US Congress. In the late 1990s, a devastating earthquake ravaged Gotham City, leaving the metropolis in ruins, and cut off from the outside world with hundreds of thousands of people still trapped inside of the city. When news of this disaster reached the US government, the military acted quickly to seal the city off from the outside, creating a veritable "Berlin Wall" around the entire perimeter before dynamiting bridges and mining rivers around the city; the US government effectively denied Gotham of existence by patrolling the city limits and shot down any aerial attempts to aid the city.

Bruce Wayne was lucky not to be trapped within the city when the earthquake ravaged the city, but he knew that he had to act quickly in order to bring order back to his hometown. Appearing before the US Congress, he pleaded for the government to send military and financial aid to help jumpstart the city after the catastrophe. Even after Wayne stated that he would donate more than half of his own personal funds to rebuild, Congress refused to send any sort of help, and declared Gotham a federal disaster zone. To make matters worse, senators literally laughed in Bruce's face as he pleaded his case from the depths of his soul... What went through Bruce's head was something similar to this: "Of course they wouldn't care; after all, it wasn't their city..." Bitter with inept bureaucrats and determined to bring Gotham back from the brink of destruction, he snuck back into the city (he knows the city better than anyone, especially when it comes to the sewer systems), with supplies, and a new sense of determination. In the end, Bruce Wayne gained the last laugh, when his allies helped regain the city, block by anarchic block, but not without losses and a new pessimistic outlook on the US government.

reply to post by Merriman Weir

His solution to fixing Gothams economy is what mattered not the character of Wayne himself.

I imagine any solution involving Batman would include beating someone up very badly.

As for just giving away money to the masses, that wouldn't fix anything. There are actually just as many greedy, corrupt people outside corporate boardrooms as there are in them.