While everyone else was celebrating the 1-day resurrection of the Dow, the Washington Post slipped a doozie in under the radar:
However the market does today, I can’t shake the feeling that we’re in the beginning phases of a whole new America:
With the government poised to invest $250 billion of taxpayer’s money into private banks, Bush said that the plan was not an abandonment of the free market, but a necessary move to avoid a deep economic crash.
“The government’s role will be limited and temporary,” Bush said in morning remarks at the White House. “These measures are not intended to take over the free market, but to preserve it.”
Hopefully, the government’s involvement in private banks will be far more limited than it has been in, say, Iraq - which was also supposed to end quickly. The funny thing about the appropriation of power is that once a government has it, it often has a really hard time letting it go.
“The government’s role will be limited and temporary,” Bush said in morning remarks at the White House.
Yeah… like anyone believes that. When was the last time the government actually reduced or de-centralized it’s power, size, or scope?
“These measures are not intended to take over the free market, but to preserve it.”
Sure… the only way to save it is to destroy it.
I literally stopped in my tracks and had to take a second look at this headline when I saw it on my way to the train this morning. First because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, and second because I couldn’t believe that the Bush administration would make such a move, given their demonstrated preference for free market solutions (except in cases of political expediency of course).
Then I learned that this move actually is precedented in American history. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/14/business/economy/14nationalize.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
I just hope that the government can push itself out of the bank ownership biz when conditions warrant it.
Meanwhile, some Democrats are openly pushing to eliminate the tax breaks for the 401(k) instead forcing workers to contribute to a government run fund administered by the Social Security Administration. What’s important here is that no tax breaks=no employer matching.
LINK
Those mid terms in ‘10 are looking to be extremely important.