Daniel Henninger: Will They Still Love Him Tomorrow? – WSJ.com

But to an independent voter or moderate Democrat, President Everyman is starting to look like a salesman for the superstate.

via Daniel Henninger: Will They Still Love Him Tomorrow? – WSJ.com.

Check it out.

‘Atlas Shrugged’: From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years – WSJ.com

From the WSJ an opinion piece about how we’ve brought the scenarios of Atlas Shrugged to reality:

For the uninitiated, the moral of the story is simply this: Politicians invariably respond to crises — that in most cases they themselves created — by spawning new government programs, laws and regulations. These, in turn, generate more havoc and poverty, which inspires the politicians to create more programs . . . and the downward spiral repeats itself until the productive sectors of the economy collapse under the collective weight of taxes and other burdens imposed in the name of fairness, equality and do-goodism.

In the book, these relentless wealth redistributionists and their programs are disparaged as “the looters and their laws.” Every new act of government futility and stupidity carries with it a benevolent-sounding title. These include the “Anti-Greed Act” to redistribute income sounds like Charlie Rangel’s promises soak-the-rich tax bill and the “Equalization of Opportunity Act” to prevent people from starting more than one business to give other people a chance. My personal favorite, the “Anti Dog-Eat-Dog Act,” aims to restrict cut-throat competition between firms and thus slow the wave of business bankruptcies. Why didn’t Hank Paulson think of that?

Comment

While the opinion peice does have a good point, we are entering territory where everyone is going to want a handout of some kind, straight libertarian ideals are not the answer. I personally like libertarian ideals, but the dirty reality of life requires that we forge a middle ground between no government control and total government control.

A hands off economic policy is politically untenable and ideals will quickly be voted out of office in favor of “reform”, no matter the source. It is imperitive that we follow a path of:

1. Pass short-term stimulous to negate some of the social effects of a contracting economy to avoid social unrest.
2. Improve the regulatory framework of troubled industries to promote competition, improve transperancy, and minimize contagion
3. Be patient to allow the mess we’re in to be cleaned up. Certain things will take time to heal and this recession is no different. We must work through our debt and surpluses before invest and manufacturing can begin again.

A Dose of Skepticism on Government Spending – NYTimes.com

Mankiw questions the Keynesian idea of  working our way out of an economic funk by boosting government spending.

WILL THE EXTRA SPENDING BE ON THINGS WE NEED? If you hire your neighbor for $100 to dig a hole in your backyard and then fill it up, and he hires you to do the same in his yard, the government statisticians report that things are improving. The economy has created two jobs, and the G.D.P. rises by $200. But it is unlikely that, having wasted all that time digging and filling, either of you is better off.

….

All these questions should give Congress pause as it considers whether to increase spending to stimulate the economy. But don’t expect such qualms to stop the juggernaut. The prevailing orthodoxy among the nation’s elite holds that increased government spending is the right medicine for what ails the economy.

via Economic View – A Dose of Skepticism on Government Spending – NYTimes.com.

Government Bailout of the Adult Entertainment Industry

Adult industry leaders Flynt and Francis sent a joint request to Congress asking for $5 billion in federal assistance, “Just to see us through hard times,” Francis said. “Congress seems willing to help shore up our nation’s most important businesses, we feel we deserve the same consideration. In difficult economic times, Americans turn to entertainment for relief. More and more, the kind of entertainment they turn to is adult entertainment.”

But according to Flynt the recession has acted like a national cold shower. “People are too depressed to be sexually active,” Flynt says, “This is very unhealthy as a nation. Americans can do without cars and such but they cannot do without sex.”

via Hustler’s Larry Flynt and Girls Gone Wild CEO Joe Francis Ask for Government Bailout of the Adult Entertainment Industry. “see us through hard times” indeed!

Rick Bookstaber: Should we keep the Big Three on life support?

Sometimes it is best to let the patient die. At least if the patient is a company. A company can be resurrected, and enjoy a new life no longer stricken by the debilitating weaknesses that left it lingering at death’s door. Weaknesses like encumbering labor agreements, pension liabilities and health care obligations.

via Rick Bookstaber: Should we keep the Big Three on life support?

The Mishkin Case for the Bailout

From the NYTimes:

In 1929, Meyer Mishkin owned a shop in New York that sold silk shirts to workingmen. When the stock market crashed that October, he turned to his son, then a student at City College, and offered a version of this sentiment: It serves those rich scoundrels right.

A year later, as Wall Street’s problems were starting to spill into the broader economy, Mr. Mishkin’s store went out of business. He no longer had enough customers. His son had to go to work to support the family, and Mr. Mishkin never held a steady job again.

Frederic Mishkin — Meyer’s grandson and, until he stepped down a month ago, an ally of Ben Bernanke’s on the Federal Reserve Board — told me this story the other day, and its moral is obvious enough. Many people in Washington fear that the country is starting to spiral into a terrible downturn. And to their horror, they see the public, and many members of Congress, turning into modern-day Meyer Mishkins, more interested in punishing Wall Street than saving the economy.

The rest of the article goes toward making a case that the bailout is needed to avoid another great depression. While I don’t beleive that, I do fear the social effects of credit tightening.