The market had an “Up” day on Friday, now that Congress and the administration have decided that the crisis is so great that it requires what the Wall Street Journal described on Thursday as the biggest bailout since the 1930s. We are now seven years and eight months into the Bush administration, and the comparisons to Herbert Hoover seem most apt. As I mentioned in a previous blog, it was clear that the administration and this president lacked credibility to calm markets simply by words. Opening up the coffers of future tax payers, however, speaks volumes.
While many will applaud the deal that Congress and the administration have put together to stablize the financial industry we have to ask ourselves how we got here in the first place. While Democrats must take some blame for cowering in the face of anti-government rhetoric, it was the Republicans who clearly controlled the agenda. And now we have seen the results.
There are no good ways to manage a bailout- only bad and worse ways. The good way involves not requiring it in the first place. Oversight of the markets has clearly been lax, as we discussed in the oil and food market. Here now is the difference between a Republican and a Libertarian: a Libertarian’s principles dictate that he or she let the financial markets fail. A Republican wants to be re-elected.
So please, no applause for the government’s move. Our children will pay the bill for us.