![Of course, Treasury Secretary Paulson failed. He took office in 2006. How is the Secretary of the Treasury supposed to contain a crisis of this magnitude and complexity, the causes of which have built over decades? That he has made some poor decisions under extreme duress should not come as a surprise.
Could Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke somehow have averted this meltdown? He, too, assumed his present position in 2006.
This crisis represents the colossal failure of:
regulation and deregulation;
Democrats and Republicans;
bureaucrats and elected officials, conservatives and liberals, financiers and executives, central bankers and bankers, government and citizens.
How is it that:
the Social Security trust fund is a myth?
the term “off balance sheet financing” even exists?
the USA has embarked on a gigantic nationalization program?
we have forgotten that Hayek was right and Keynes was wrong?
Congress and the President both have record disapproval ratings?
mortgage loans were provided without checking borrowers’ incomes?
official government statistics such as unemployment, inflation, and GDP no longer hold any real meaning as the result of gradual, constant erosion at the hands of leaders from both parties by equal measure?
folks devised, created, bought, sold, and resold various financial instruments so complex that seemingly no one understands them, can disentangle them, or has any idea as to the scope and scale of the problem?
Allocating scarce resources via markets instead of centralized control has benefitted the world immensely. May we not abandon these principles on the tough, tough road ahead.
[photo source]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/Anhohk1sae4f7fihpj52XUNVo1_500.jpg)
Of course, Treasury Secretary Paulson failed. He took office in 2006. How is the Secretary of the Treasury supposed to contain a crisis of this magnitude and complexity, the causes of which have built over decades? That he has made some poor decisions under extreme duress should not come as a surprise.
Could Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke somehow have averted this meltdown? He, too, assumed his present position in 2006.
This crisis represents the colossal failure of:
- regulation and deregulation;
- Democrats and Republicans;
- bureaucrats and elected officials, conservatives and liberals, financiers and executives, central bankers and bankers, government and citizens.
How is it that:
- the Social Security trust fund is a myth?
- the term “off balance sheet financing” even exists?
- the USA has embarked on a gigantic nationalization program?
- we have forgotten that Hayek was right and Keynes was wrong?
- Congress and the President both have record disapproval ratings?
- mortgage loans were provided without checking borrowers’ incomes?
- official government statistics such as unemployment, inflation, and GDP no longer hold any real meaning as the result of gradual, constant erosion at the hands of leaders from both parties by equal measure?
- folks devised, created, bought, sold, and resold various financial instruments so complex that seemingly no one understands them, can disentangle them, or has any idea as to the scope and scale of the problem?
Allocating scarce resources via markets instead of centralized control has benefitted the world immensely. May we not abandon these principles on the tough, tough road ahead.
[photo source]
