I just finished reading this article from the Wall Street Journal written byPeter J Wallison, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Please give this article a read if you want to understand the truth about Barney Frank and the mess the government created.
In a nutshell
This article in simple english is easy to understand and realize that government is the problem, has been the problem and will continue to be the problem in our country when it enters into the fray of a capitalist system. They do not know or understand how markets work, they believe they should work in the way “they” envision them rather than the reality of it all. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Post Office, HUD, etc.. are all good examples of governments wishful thinking without any real and practical thinking applied to the day in and day out operations of these massive agencies.
We need government and there is no debate there. We need some regulations and protections but in a limited way. We need the government to coordinate a standing army for the protection and preservation of our country and the people. What we don’t need is government poking around in the inner working of capitalism in this country and trying to remake the wheel.
My opinion is that the capitalist in this country are very smart and able to make the system work with very little intervention from the government.
Case in point. This is a local issue but a perfect example of how government should stay out of the free market. I live in a town of roughly 200K people. We have a beautiful airport but we have a small inconsistent air traffic demand for major airlines. The airlines charge us a premium for stopping by to pick us up since passenger demand is not that great and consistent on a yearly basis. In other words the airlines already know the kind of money they can make serving our area and do so accordingly without overkill.
Our city fathers decide to step in and get involved with a startup airline to serve the greater metropolitan area. Our city is going to come up with several million dollars, and guarantee some of the well intended capitalist money also in loan guarantees.
The airline comes to fruition and is based out of our city and is here to serve our every whim. They have incredibly low cost seats for their service but one thing remains the same- the demand is only so much for air travel regardless of the price of the seat. In other words there is only so much blood, if you will, in the turnip.
The airline operates for a couple of years in the red, never makes any money and finally submerges into bankruptcy and then liquidation. Who picks up the guarantees? The local taxpayers. Case closed.
That is part and parcel to what is happening on the Federal level today. The government is interceding on behalf of the taxpayers and only making the “bad” even worse. If we don’t find a way to stop this maddening exercise of futility we will be irretrievably bankrupt.
Related posts:
- Wall Street Journal reports America’s Newest Land Baron: FDIC
- Barney Frank:Revisited article from Vanity Fair Sept.2009
- Taxing Wall Street bonuses could take us down a road we do not want to go.
- Barney Frank commenting on Financial Regulation reform
- Barney Frank’s Spooning Partner Heckles Frank’s Opponent