“The laws of gravity cannot be held responsible for people falling in love” –Albert Einstein
Whether you call it a Bailout, Stimulus Package or the War on Reality, the government is struggling to figure out what to do about the economic crisis. The MSM, Dems and many GOP are saying that since the Free Market has failed us that only the Govt can save us now. What they fail to recognize is that the Free Market is working just fine and it is Government Intervention that has failed us and it is Limited Govt that will save us. Many blame deregulation for the housing crisis when in fact it was precisely due to the govt with incentives through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac coupled with the threat of ACORN lawsuits related to CRA and finally a touch of easy credit available by the Federal Reserve enticing investors who made no downpayments on their properties to simply walk away with foreclosures reducing the value of all the neighboring properties. Of course it is much easier to say “greed” caused the crisis than large govt programs designed to give credit to those who could and should not have qualified.
The politicians want a painless recovery and are willing to “save” millions of jobs deemed strategic by a few bureaucrats. But predictably that is not working either given the last unemployment numbers which are up to 8.1%. So what is the remedy? I would focus on making the US a better environment for businesses, both large and small, because it is not sustainable to grow the size of govt at the expense of the private sector. Fostering private sector growth can include eliminating the corporate income tax, which Jim Gilmore correctly pointed out would be cheaper than the stimulus, and modifying Sarbanes-Oxley so it is not so expensive for businesses to perform their accounting. But part of less regulation is also strongly enforcing the few rules you do have. The Madoffs of the world need to go to “pound them in the @$$” prisons not white collar resorts for a few short years.
Falsely accusing the Free Market to justify increased govt involvement is simply the wrong direction. We need to understand the Free Market for what it is including its innovative abilities through competition and constructive destruction and how govt intervention either through the Fed or large govt programs is the true culprit for our current woes.
