I am so disappointed in our President and Congress for passing this $700 billion bailout. This might be a great short term fix to our current economic problem (although we'll soon find out if even that proves to be true), but it will only hurt us in the long run. The dollar will continue to fall. This is very much an extension of the New Deal. It gives the government more power to undermine our markets and, quite literally, restrict the power of the individual. It is wholly contrary to the "Yes You Can" concept.
The market is dependent upon individual creativity. Whether it be run by the government or entirely free, any market will rely on people creating new ways to produce and consume its goods. People will create new products, new ways of producing products, new ways of marketing products, etc. In a government run system, these creative people will make up some kind of government agency and will work closely with politicians to do their best to create the most efficient market. In a free market system, the creative people are individual citizens who are working for their own self-sustainment and, ideally, for the sustainment of others around them. The "Yes You Can" concept obviously favors the latter of the two systems because individuals working to better their own lives and the lives of those around them are filled with an intense creative ability that is unmatched by any form of government. Of course, there can be various types of systems in between these two extremes but the "Yes You Can" concept believes that removing restrictions from individuals will allow them to use their creative power to it's fullest extent and, therefore, have the ability to produce the most good. In other words, the "Yes You Can" concept favors the free market extreme.
The conservative Right has always held these principles to be true. Today, the Republican Party, which typically represents the Right, has acted in complete contradiction with these principles. It stepped up to help save a failing part of our market. Unfortunately, that failing part of our market was failing because it was too much under the control of the government. Individual creativity was restricted and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were no longer able to compete with the rest of the market. Now the government has come to bail them out and further entrench its hold on the market which will further restrict that individual creativity that is so necessary to the "Yes You Can" concept and the American way of life. The Republicans have missed their chance to stand up to the Left and show them how their policies are failing. They've missed their chance to live up to their fundamental beliefs. This is further illustration that the Right has gotten off its foundations. It is no longer aware of what it stands for. It has forgotten the "Yes You Can" concept. I am very disappointed.
There is a good chance that I may no longer be voting for McCain. His only saving grace is his position on foreign policy issues relating to the Middle East. However, while I agree with him on those issues, this could be a deal breaker.
10 comments:
The only problem with not voting for McCain is there's only one other option and he's not any better. I agree with you on the bailout though. Government needs to stay out of the economy as much as possible.
"With the Congress not in session, the stock market made a big comeback today. See, that's the key to saving the economy. Send these idiots home so they can't screw up anymore. Exactly. We need more holidays. That's the problem. More holidays, Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, get them all in there."
— Jay Leno, The Tonight Show
just curious, if you don't vote for McCain are you just not going to vote for anyone? You don't think that a vote for McCain is solely a good vote purely from the standpoint that it at least cancels out one vote for Obama?!
Obama and McCain are not the only names the list. There are always others. Bob Barr, the Libertarian candidate, for example, would never have allowed a bailout like this. Of course, Barr would probably disagree with me and with McCain on foreign policy. That's McCain's only strong point for me at this point.
hey now you can vote for Nader!
I agree with you that if we're going to do Capitalism that we probably ought to go whole hog and let the market work itself out. But there seems to be an almost across the board agreement among economists that the government needs to do something to avoid a Depression in this specific situation. Would you rather suffer a Depression, or have the government intervene in this case?
As for me, this is one more example of how greed (or self-interest if it makes you feel better to think of it that way) can end up screwing us all in the end. It was the greed of speculators, people who wanted to own homes that they couldn't afford, and Wall Street types that landed us in this mess.
The market created the problem, can it right itself? Not without hurting the rest of us who acted responsibly...
I encourage you to vote for someone who actually has a chance of winning. Pick the lesser of two evils if that's how you feel about it. Think about the supreme court, do you want Obama picking the future justices or McCain?
George Soros apparently believes that the market needs to be regulated.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/blog/2008/10/market_fundamentalism_and_the.html
You may dismiss him as a liberal, but he has managed to make more than 9 billion dollars investing in said market.
This issue is far from cut and dry.
This link works.
Stupid html...
I think it's more cut and dry than you think. The reason we're in this mess is not because the market was left unregulated, quite the opposite. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were government subsidized corporations and were pandering to minorities with low credit scores because the government told them too.
George Soros is not the first self-made millionaire to think the market needs regulating. In fact, most modern market regulations are supported by large corporations (ie. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) that gain from government intervention even though it hurts the market as a whole.
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