Do Nothing

In the wake of the latest financial disaster, the government plans to “step in” and get things regulated. Hello? The government already did that–way back when the Federal Reserve was created (early 20th Century) and when the New Deal was instituted (1930s). American industry has been regulated ever since. All these regulations and agencies were created to prevent just this kind of disaster. Now that it has happened on their watch, THEY don’t get the blame; “the free market” gets the blame. But it’s not a free market! It’s a heavily regulated market. It’s semi-capitalism, run as much (or more) by the government as by private, profit-seeking individuals. Obama promises to step in and “get it right.” He says he’ll do a better job of this than Bush or McCain. What does this mean, exactly? Change the regulations so that this time there will be no more disasters? How do we know he can do this? What objective standard will he operate on, to prove that his regulations will protect us while those of FDR, JFK, LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Bush and Clinton didn’t? I say get the government OUT of the economy and let nature take its course. The worst thing the government can do is “do something.” Government has shown how little it can do and how, in fact, it makes things even worse. Let’s bring on McCain, not because McCain believes in a free market, but because at least we’ll have some divided government to keep government from doing something. If we can’t get government out of the way, let’s at least keep it from getting more in the way than it already is.