Friday, February 20, 2009

Government Struggles to Grasp Economic Reality

The nation is struggling to understand true economics. We have a presidential administration, legislature, and news media bent on changing our economy into a controlled economy. And yet, they hesitate to pull the trigger, despite their monopoly of power. The plain truth of economics and freedom is hitting hard, and it's hard to ignore.

I've got a collection of economic-related news stories that I would like to highlight. Many of them are stories that you may have already read, especially if you are a news junkie like myself. I don't have much to say about them, other than they demonstrate the gap in between reality and the ideologies and programs that our elected officials and media are trying to push. Some of them may show a glimmer of hope that our newly elected officials may actually be learning something about economics while in office.

1. Wall Street flips at the suggestion of bank nationalization. Stocks plummeted Friday morning at the suggestion that the government may take over failing banks. What is interesting was the White House response. They attempt to reassure, insisting that they never had any plans to nationalize. Is the administration becoming aware that their policies of change to the nation's economic structure may not be plausible?

2. Wholesale inflation takes a leap. It went up 0.8% last month. The story says economists had only expected a 0.2% jump. Those must have been the economists who approved of the last stimulus package as well. Perhaps flooding the economy with freshly-printed and borrowed money does not make the country any wealthier.

3. The Chicago Tea Party. CNBC's Rick Santelli is an internet sensation in his spirited criticisms of the White House mortgage relief bill. The relief bill rewards bad behavior, Santelli says. "How many of you people want to pay for your neighbor's mortgage that has an extra bathroom and can't pay their bills?" he asks. The floor of traders behind him burst a unanimous boo. Santelli looks into the camera, asks if President Obama is listening and...

4. The White House responds. The very next day the White House already feels compelled to respond directly to criticisms in the cable morning news report. "Santelli doesn't know what he's talking about," the spokesman says. Maybe so, but the attention attracted by the tirade of a lower-profile newsman shows that the White House at least found his comments very compelling. It seems that White House response to media criticisms are usually limited to the big dogs- the Rush Limbaugh's, the New York Times- the big media outlets. The fact that they so immediately respond to Santelli is remarkable.

5. Bill Clinton gets some blame for the economic downturn because of his... "free-wheeling capitalism." It's funny that of all the Clinton's Administration acts that would be blamed, Time targets free-wheeling capitalism. That definitely was not the hallmark of the Clinton Administration. Much more pertinent and logical to point at would be the growth of Fannie Mae and the Community Reinvestment Act passed during Clinton's tenure. The attacks on capitalism continue from surprising sources as...

6. Alan Greenspan supports bank nationalization. We've come full circle now and perhaps see part of the reason why we have executive and legislative branches that are attacking capitalism and American freedom at will. Have American conservatives and patriots forgotten the principles this nation stands on? Economic freedom is not a get-rich-quick scheme. Capitalism is not just another economic system along with socialism, communism, etc. It is not to be swapped out for one of the others because of an economic recession. Capitalism is the state of the economy in a state of freedom. As evidenced in the news, it also happens to be the only system under which mankind will find ever prosperity.

Rusty Scalpel

1 comment:

Kristy Lynne said...

It's so refreshing to see someone who can pull all of this craziness together into one clear progression. I'm scared, but the end does have to come...right?