PENALIZE SUCCESS & REWARD FAILURE - A GOOD ECONOMIC SYSTEM??

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber barons cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. - C. S. Lewis

Unfortunately, post inauguration, I fear this is the direction we may be heading. Although, to be fair, the Bush administration is clearly reading from the same playbook. They talk the conservative talk at times, but more often walk the big government walk.

A pro-European economic way of thought, more socialistic less capitalistic. More government intervention and tinkering rather than less. One of the most dreaded phrases in the English language--"I'm from the government, and I'm here to help"--becomes reality rather than a casual joke.

Mark Perry over at Carpe Diem is an economics professor at the University of Michigan, Flint. Among other issues, he covers the auto industry with a rightful dose of skepticism....Why is GM (and Ford and Chrysler) seeking taxpayer subsidies when Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Kia, BMW, Daimler, Hyundai and other foreign nameplate producers, who are facing the same contracting demand and credit crunch quietly weathering the storm, are not? Because the latter have costs structures that haven’t been made obsolete and uneconomic by ludicrous union demands. And, of course, they make cars that Americans want to buy.

Can't argue against that logic. But many in Washington will.

The current failures in our economy were not failures of the free-market system itself. They were failures in industries that were the more highly regulated industries. The hedge funds (lightly regulated) were the canary in the coal mine to some degree in that they focused attention on the crisis long before our elected leaders and officials did. If these officials had taken preventative measures when these early-birds were sounding the warning bells, instead of focusing their attention on other, less pressing matters, we would not be in the situation we are in.

If we continue to reward failure rather than success, this thing could get really ugly.

You can file this under "Even a broken watch is right twice a day" or "Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile" but many of Bushies comments (made at the Manhattan Institute) were right on the mark. Too bad his administration did not live by these values instead of simply parroting them in a speech once in awhile. The results on Election Day might have been very different.