United Liberty
The Bailout- Just Plain Wrong
Tue, 09/30/2008 - 2:17pm | posted by John Killian
This week, one can hardly open a discussion without hearing fearful comments on the economy and the recent attempt by Congress to bailout investors in the housing market. No question, failure to pass a bailout package will create short-term problems in the stock market, hence, retirement plans and pensions will suffer.
But the bottom line is that dropping a safety net under investors is an antithesis to the free market system. Free enterprise finds a way to make investment and initiative work, while socialism uses the force of government to bring about a contrived result.
A dear friend who blogs from left of center, made a statement a few months ago that with a Republican President and Republican Congress, we have seen as conservatism did not work. I responded that conservatism had not been tried. The Republican Congress failed to get a grip on the super growth of government and our Republican President did little to challenge the growth of the size of government.
Now, critics are saying that the free market has not worked. I maintain that the free market has not been tried. Government has manipulated the market and now we see the failure caused by big government competing with private enterprise and propping up those entities which were failing on the free market. Taking tax dollars from taxpayers to supplement failure is just plain wrong! While the failure to pass a bill may bring some negative consequences, the very nature of our free Republic is at stake. I am proud of the Congressmen who voted NO on the bailout and pray that these Members of Congress will maintain their positions on the issue. Appreciation is due to Alabama Congressman Robert Aderholt, the one Alabama Congressman to vote NO on the bailout.
Please take three minutes to listen to Congressman Mike Pence of Indiana. Speaking on the floor of the House, Pence gave a pro-free market argument for sinking the bailout plan. Pence’s reasons for opposition included:
- Economic freedom means the freedom to succeed but also the freedom to fail
- This bill gives the government the right to interrupt free markets
- The bill forever changes the relationship between the government and the markets
- The American people will have to foot the bill for Wall St.’s mismanagement
In order to believe that free markets did not work, one would also have to believe that the United States is the only country with a market economy. After all, this problem arose here, not in Brussels, Sydney, Tokyo, Seoul or Ottawa.
What has truly failed here is the lethal combination of unrestrained spending, rampant military expansion and tax cutting.
I think it would be a good idea to enforce deficit limits as they have in the European Union. At this point we would not be able to reach the standards of the EU (some European countries actually can’t) but some sort of cap needs to be put on executive spending.
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