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Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Socialists in $2,000 tailored suits
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What’s the difference between a capitalist and a socialist?
Apparently, about 3,000 points in the Dow Jones Industrial Average . Back when the DJIA was up at 14,000 and climbing — about nine months ago — tough-minded capitalists were explaining that government intervention was always bad for the economy. For example, if homeowners got suckered into bad loans they couldn’t repay and were about to lose their home, that was their own fault — fools have to pay the price for being fools.
Failure, after all, disciplines the system. With reward must come risk, and all that. The attitude was captured all too well in an e-mail from the head of Countrywide Financial, responding to a plea from a Countrywide customer desperate for more time to repay his loan.
“It’s unbelievable … disgusting,” wrote Angelo Mozilo, CEO of what was then one of the largest mortgage companies in the country.
But the tune has changed. With the nation’s financial system teetering at the brink — the consequence of mindless risk in search of immense reward — Wall Street’s rugged masters of the universe are running to Uncle Sam in panic, falling to the knees of their $2,000 tailored suits and screeching, “Help us, help us, help us, oh please won’t you help us!!!”
All of a sudden, John McCain says the federal government has to commit billions of dollars to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, even if it means nationalizing those privately held companies. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, a former CEO of Goldman Sachs, tells Congress that Wall Street needs tighter regulation and Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke announces that the Fed will make loans to troubled financial firms and accept questionable investments as collateral, in effect putting the rest of us on the line for their debts.
In other words, after years of privatizing their gains and reaping immense financial rewards through their manipulation of the “free market” system, the leading lights of Wall Street are suddenly turning socialist. Now that it’s time to pay the piper for risk gone bad, they turn to government and ask, “Hey, buddy, will you get that for me?”
And unfortunately, government has no choice but to do so. If it’s not quelled, the panic now rippling through corporate boardrooms and financial houses threatens to do significant long-term damage to the economy not just of the United States but on a global scale as well.
It sure is strange to see, though. Suddenly, government has become the capitalists’ best friend. Suddenly, the idea that government is here to help doesn’t seem quite as funny to Wall Street as it used to be.
There’s no doubt that excessive government regulation can strangle free enterprise. But as we’re witnessing, excessive greed can do the job even more quickly. Managing a modern economy requires that we find a useful balance between greed and government regulation, and over the past decade or longer, we lost that balance.
Had we accepted the necessity of a bit more government regulation and intervention to tamp down the excesses of a market economy, we would need a lot less government intervention today to rescue ourselves from what looks to be a very large mess.
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More tea leaves for your reading pleasure….
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue — mentioned in some circles as a longshot vice presidential pick — said he hasn’t been asked for his tax information by the campaign of presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain.
Such scrutiny typically precedes a candidate’s selection as vice president. Perdue was asked about the screening following a Monday rally at the state Capitol for McCain, where several hundred Republicans gathered.
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McCain recruiting blog commenters
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Now this is an interesting approach….
John McCain has a page on his website encouraging supporters to become commenters at suggested blogs (this one not among them.)
“Select from the numerous web, blog and news sites listed here, go there, and make your opinions supporting John McCain known. Once you’ve commented on a post, video or news story, report the details of your comment by clicking the button below. After your comments are verified, you will be awarded points through the McCain Online Action Center.”
The site even offers Today’s Talking Points to help the would-be commenter keep in step with the campaign’s message. I’m not sure what you could do with the “points” you rack up by commenting and reporting back on your pro-McCain comments, so if anyone knows, drop a line.
Five liberal sites are listed, along with more than 70 sites listed as conservative, four as moderate and 14 as “other.”
Georgia-based PeachPundit makes the list as “other,” as does Instapundit, which strikes me as odd. If Glenn Reynolds doesn’t make the cut as conservative, what criteria are you using?
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