The previous post touches on something that I have been considering for the past couple of days: who speaks for the Financial Industry as a whole? After one of the worst days in Wall Street history driven, in no small part, by confusion and resentment around a - largely sensible - Congressional proposal, one has to wonder why the best equipped, best funded, and most sophisticated industry worldwide - the Financial Services Industry - isn't better at making its own case.
Love it or hate it the petroleum industry has used public relations with increasing success to convince consumers and lawmakers of two inalienable facts: 1) carbon fuels are a necessary evil which fill an immediate need while we search for viable alternatives and 2) for all the talk of 'big' oil and corrupt cadres, "around 41% of oil company stock is owned by 401k retirement plans and mutual funds" i.e. by you and me.
Very similar arguments could be and should have been made around today's 'bailout' bill but the administration and its proponents have, as so often happens, failed to pay sufficient attention to the only thing that really mattered in the end: successfully framing the debate.
The fact that the word "bailout" is now well and truly cemented in the vernacular demonstrates the need for a more cohesive and frankly more effective communications strategy industry-wide.
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