Fear is the Key

President-elect Obama is talking about relief on a Rooseveltian scale. He wants to spread unemployment and Medicare benefits around more freely, for example. But he knows he can’t just toss out a few dimes to bums on the street corners; he needs a stimulus plan that knocks peoples’ socks off.

"Economists from all across the political spectrum agree that if you don’t act swiftly and boldly we could see a deepening economic downturn," he said recently.

We must be somewhere on the political spectrum. But he didn’t ask us. If he had, we would have explained that every penny spent on a bailout has to be taken out of the spending of the person who earned it. We’d add that there is no economic problem at all. The markets are doing what they’re supposed to do...clearing away the mistakes of the Bubble Epoch.

It’s a political problem, not an economic one. People don’t like to have to pay for their mistakes. So, they whine to politicians. And then the politicians make things worse...by trying to prevent the correction from taking place.

How High Will the Dead Cat Bounce?


Economic chains well-forged make literal chains unnecessary

As we clamor to be led to safety, The Powers That Be are forging new chains. To this point in our history, they have been economic chains — confiscatory taxation, debts, rules and regulations — and it seems a matter of time before they become literal chains, but those won't be necessary if we let them succeed.

Resist any solution that steals more freedom or independence from you or your business or your property. Ask why. "Why is this hobgoblin such a menace that the only solution you propose is to restrict our freedom and take our liberty away?" Shine a light and the rodents may scurry away — even if they don't, the things they tell you to fear won't seem near as big and terrifying shining in the sun as they do now, hiding in the midnight darkness.

Refuse to be afraid