| The common theme from the media, the economists, | | | | Fed or how it causes the boom - bust business cycles. |
| and the government they serve is the failure of the | | | | President Bush following the rule, said nothing about the |
| Free Market. According to them, both the Obama and | | | | Fed. |
| Bush administrations and both parties in congress, | | | | Weeks later, Mike Shedlock said, when President Bush |
| more regulation, more interventionism, more spending | | | | called for an economic summit, that "In response to the |
| and more debt will solve the crisis. Yet, the very | | | | credit crises, President Bush is gathering up all the |
| people who caused the mess and were clueless to | | | | people who did not see what was coming, denied |
| the approaching doom are the new found savants | | | | what was happening, and then failed to see the |
| who will lead us out of it. As usual, ignoring government | | | | implication of what was indeed happening." Bush then |
| failure, they blame everyone but the government and | | | | spoke of the need to "preserve the foundation of |
| use the crisis to justify more governmental power. The | | | | democratic capitalism," in other words: more |
| experts not only have given the wrong answers but | | | | government intervention in the Free Market. |
| are also asking the wrong questions. | | | | Of the world leaders who were also invited, French |
| The Free Market or Capitalism did not cause this crisis; | | | | president and European Commission president offered |
| government interventionism did. Freddie Mac and | | | | his wisdom in calling for targeting offshore tax havens, |
| Fannie Mae, two government sponsored enterprises | | | | strengthening the IMF, limiting executive pay, and other |
| or GSEs, receiving government tax and regulatory | | | | irrelevant suggestions. But it is an increase in |
| breaks, drew more resources into the housing market | | | | government power, always what a politician likes to do. |
| then would have been possible in a free market. | | | | As usual, he failed to mention the 1 percent interests |
| Hypocritically, the Republicans have attacked the | | | | rates, which caused the unsustainable growth in the |
| Democrats' record on Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, | | | | world economies. In October 2008 the editor-in-chief of |
| but their record on spending, debt, and government | | | | Slate Group which publishes Slate, a popular website, |
| interventionism is just as shameful. Both parties have | | | | announced the death of libertarianism because the |
| supported the bailouts; both parties attack the Free | | | | financial crisis proved what a mess "unregulated |
| Market, one more honestly, the other more | | | | markets" could cause. Did he mention the Fed or its |
| hypocritically. Those claiming to support the Free | | | | destructive behavior on the Free Market? No, of |
| Market fail to grasp the real problem, attacking specific | | | | course not. Better to attack economic freedom and |
| programs such as The Community Reinvestment Act, | | | | support government growth. |
| they ignore the cause. | | | | The few who have warned against the coming crisis |
| Nobody in Washington and few elsewhere dare to | | | | and have spoken out against the Fed, such as Jim |
| question the single greatest intervention in the Free | | | | Rogers, Peter Schiff, and James Grant are |
| Market and the entity that has left its mark all over this | | | | conspicuously absent from the government list of |
| crisis: the American Central Bank, known as the | | | | advisors. Is it because they broke the taboo? Rogers, |
| Federal Reserve System. When experts do bring up | | | | when asked what he would do if appointed as Federal |
| the Fed, they ask how it will cure the crisis, but never | | | | Reserve Chairman, said he would abolish the Fed and |
| how it has caused the crisis. After stiff opposition to | | | | resign. Other "experts" laughed at Peter Schiff when |
| the bailout, President Bush addressed the nation on 24 | | | | he warned of the coming disaster. So, whom did Bush |
| September 2008. Addressing the "root causes," he | | | | and Obama pick to advise them? The very same |
| briefly mentioned Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac but | | | | people who failed to predict the crises. |
| said nothing about government interventionism or the | | | | So now they're listening to the new (or old?) experts |
| central bank. In American political life, one rule is to | | | | to get us out of the crisis. |
| never mention the inflationary monetary policies of the | | | | We are in trouble. |