Going from bad to worse

Wednesday, April 28, 2010 | 2:01 a.m.

It is frustrating to read the news sometimes when the same problems come up time and again, yet little is done to solve them. In the past week there have been a few stories that have returned with the nagging quality of a sore tooth. It’s time for action. For example:

• It is no secret that the strategies of some Wall Street investment firms played a major role in the boom of the housing market, as well as its collapse. In the wake of the resulting economic downturn, and the taxpayer bailouts of the “too big to fail” institutions, there have been any number of calls for better oversight and regulatory reform. However, in a procedural vote Monday in the Senate, Republicans blocked financial reform legislation from proceeding.

Then, on Tuesday, the nation once again heard the grisly details of how Wall Street works as current and former executives of Goldman Sachs testified before a Senate subcommittee. The firm, which has been charged with fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission, has become a poster child for reform, given its callous disregard for either its clients or the fallout from its actions.

Republicans were happy to take shots at the firm in the hearing. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., even blamed Wall Street firms for manipulating the market and called for more transparency “so we don’t end up hurting the little guys out there on Main Street.”

However, when given the chance to take up the financial reform bill Tuesday, Ensign and his Republican colleagues once again blocked it.

Given the fact that America as a nation is suffering through the worst financial downfall since the Great Depression, Republicans’ actions are inexcusable. It is time, to use Ensign’s words, to protect the little guys on Main Street from the bullies on Wall Street.

• After the public learned in 2007 that wounded soldiers were being housed in squalid conditions and treated terribly at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the Army pledged to change its ways. It created the Wounded Transition Battalion, which is supposed to take care of the troops dealing with serious physical and mental wounds. It hasn’t.

In a story published Tuesday in the Sun, The New York Times reported that wounded soldiers and their families say they aren’t receiving appropriate care, echoing reports in the years since. Soldiers are often put on a laundry list of prescriptions — in dosages that often risk overdose. Therapy and inpatient treatment are often minimal, soldiers say, as the military appears to prefer medication regimens. The soldiers say they are harangued and disciplined by noncommissioned offers for minor infractions, many of which are difficult to comply with because they are heavily medicated.

This is intolerable. Returning veterans, particularly the wounded, should be treated with the utmost respect. The Army’s handling of them is disgraceful. It’s beyond time for this to change.

• For several years now, Somali pirates have been taking hostage ships and their crews coming through the Gulf of Aden. Somalia is a country in turmoil and has not been able to police itself, much less the seas, so an international flotilla of warships has moved into the area. It has had only modest success. Although the number of ships taken by pirates is down this year, Somali pirates have become more brazen. This month they have captured three Thai fishing trawlers and a freighter. The trawlers were taken 1,200 miles off the coast in the Indian Ocean and the freighter was hijacked 200 miles from the Gulf of Aden.

As Time magazine recently reported, there is growing frustration internationally, which is understandable. With the world’s leading navies in the region, we think there should be some way to quickly let the pirates know this is unacceptable. It’s time to put an end to this situation.