Like many Americans, I’m at a loss as to what is the best course of action to get our economy out of this mess. I cringe when I read/hear some of the details about several of the proposed solutions flying around.
Some of the proposed “powers” (read: “unconstitutional”) that seem to be intended for the Treasury Secretary include the ability for the secretary to attempt to restore liquidity to the markets. As El Rushbo said, this plan brings two words to mind:
“Central planning.”
I am inclined to stick to my free market guns and just “let the market work itself out.”
Ace commenter Ella notes that most depressions last 4 years or so at best and in 5 years, the US will be back on track, sans the socialist intervention.
The short term will suck, but the long term is still fine. There’s a difference between mono and cancer.
But when even non-alarmist types like Steve Forbes are sweating, I begin to wonder:
“I’ve never been an alarmist…I’ve never seen a situation as dark as it is today…people genuinely don’t understand the magnitude of what is before us.”
Jawa blogger Ragnar frames it nicely – The Bailout : I’m at a Loss
A whole lot of folks I’ve always trusted as staunch free marketeers are telling us it’s time to put all that “nice theory” aside and accept that massive government intervention is an “unpleasant reality” if we’re even going to HAVE a market system tomorrow.
I feel a little bit like I might feel if my pastor advised me on the sly to visit the mosque every once in a while–ya know, just in case this whole “Jesus” thing doesn’t end up panning out.
These times call for the optimism of President Reagan:
“Can we solve the problems confronting us? Well the answer is an unequivocal and emphatic ‘Yes.’”
[This crisis] does require, however, our best effort and our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds, to believe that together with God’s help we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us.
And after all, why shouldn’t we believe that? We are Americans.
Spot. On.
“Greed is the theme that resonates with both the schadenfreude of the outsider and the remorse of the insider. The words of the apostle Paul are appropriate: ‘Money is the root of all evil.’ … Max Weber, the great German sociologist of the beginning of the 20th century, argued that American dynamism was the product of the Puritan ethic and the spirit of capitalism, together forming an accord for worldly success for God’s chosen people. First came the mortgage crisis in which first class banks mistook mountains of clouds for stable floors. Then came the banking crisis, which destroyed confidence. And in addition people were seduced by tricks made possible with computers. These are all trials and crises, but they will not spell the end of America’s distinctiveness.”
“The country will never convert to socialism, nor will it become a mega-state. Faced with similar circumstances, that might be the response of the pessimistic Europeans. America’s culture of optimism — which all too often gets on the Europeans’ nerves because they consider it to be naïve and superficial — also has the power to identify a setback as exactly that and not the end of the world.“
Source: Spiegel Online International (“A Crisis, But Not The End of The World“) quoting Die Welt.
alex asunder 