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We cannot yet see the future dictators, but we can certainly see the weakness that gives them their chance.
I think the politicians calling for even bigger government need to do some examining of what they call “American-style capitalism.” Barack Obama said the policies of a “free market” have not worked. Other left-leaning economists say we need more oversight. European periodicals claim that capitalism is dead.
The truth is, capitalism is not dead, capitalism hasn’t failed, and capitalism is not a “thing of the past.” The word itself has gotten a bad reputation, and I like to think of the free market as the best way to describe the reality of economics. What has failed us is a polluted free market (hardly “free” anymore). We have more nationalization of our schools, expanded entitlements, burdensome Sarbanes-Oxley securities regulations, nation-building around the world, and nearly 70% increase our federal deficit over the past eight years. How exactly is that a free market?!
Remember AIG, the bailed-out insurance company that just spent $400,000 on a spa treatment “retreat” that got the American people up in arms? Guess what: the free market would have prevented that, because they wouldn’t have had our money to spend. They would have been without money. But nobody will tell you that.
Fannie and Freddie would not have needed a bail out if they weren’t nearly forced by the government to make loans that made no free market economic sense. But Barney Frank and Chris Dodd decided that it “feels good” to make sure people without means could get a loan. Bush complied because he’s a “compassionate conservative” (a term I despise). Screws up our economy, housing bubble bursts wide open, and lo and behold Barack Obama declares free markets are not working. Sorry, but he either knows nothing about economics, hasn’t paid attention lately, or he’s outright deceiving us. This reason alone is why I will not vote for him.
Crises are great for government, because it’s one of the only opportunities to get a stronger foothold on the nation, even of those who aren’t affected by the crisis. FDR seized more government control during his presidency because he had the Depression on his hands. He had advisors and members of his cabinet who visited Russia a few years before and said, “We saw the future, and it works!” They criticized him for not taking the American government toward a more socialistic state. The current financial crisis is yet another opportunity for our government to become bigger, not just in spending, but in ownership, of our properties, our finances, and our personal lives.
