Week Two, Bail-outs (pit-stop on the road to socialism)

So, last week we covered the housing bubble. I think the place that naturally leads us to would be the Bail-outs. Well, what can I say about that? (besides pleh...(the sound one makes after imbibing a mouthful of sea water)) Obviously, last week we covered the cause of the implosion of the market. So we should probably pick up where we left off. The root cause of the entire fiasco was the government sticking it's dirty little finger into the free market, in the form of forcing lenders to lend at rates that didn't justify the risks.


Now, and this really pisses me off, we are beginning to hear more and more about how "de-regulation" has destroyed the free-market. Oh, what a load of crap, when it's so painfully obvious that it was very specific regulation that sent us down this road. Of course the government will not allow this mess to be turned against them. Alright, so maybe your wondering why the government would be against "de-regulation". If you're really wondering that, you're not thinking for your self any more. The government wants control. They want as much control as they can twist the constitution into allowing them. Now I will have to say that there are some congressmen that have good intentions. However, a man with principles in government becomes a pawn for those who have been further corrupted. Let's not forget that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely

So how does a country get to the point where they will voluntarily hand over more and more control of their day to day lives to the government? FEAR. The ominous words of the chancellor from the block buster "V for Vendetta" ring true to the objective of the government in our current situation,"I want everyone... to remember... why they NEED us!" We've seen this kind of fear mongering before: Germany, USSR, and most recently BUSH. All that needs to be done to gain unprecedented control over an aspect of a community, is to convince the common people that they can't survive without the government in control of that aspect. First it was Bush, who manipulated the 9/11 events, to take unprecedented control of the military, not to mention using the events as an excuse to engage in domestic espionage. He built a machine that worked toward his goals, and it ran on fear. These disasters occur unexpectedly (notice I didn't say naturally) but those very intelligent people who are standing at the podium (and the people behind them, who actually form these strategies) see every disaster as a double edged sword. They see every 9/11 as an opportunity to change the way people think about the role of government.


Unfortunately those who voted for change will find only superficial improvements, and this mad dash towards greater government control will continue. The latest disaster to be twisted into handing the government even more control, is this recession. Even though those in control created the bubble, when it inevitably collapsed their first reaction (no surprise) is not to apologize for sticking their grubby little fingers into the pie, but to convince the public that we should simply hand over the entire pie. It is ludicrous, it's infuriating, it's dumbfounding, it's corrupt, and it's un-American.


So, how does this have anything to do with the bail-outs. Hahaha! They've done such a good job masking it that you probably didn't even realize why they really wanted to do this. If you recall the way we all felt about the bail-outs when we first heard about them. Oh god... I thought there would be rioting in the streets if it ever passed.... and then it did... and we were all so terrified that we let it slide. So, why did they want this badly enough to go against the will of the people? Easy, they knew they could frighten us into going along with it. Why did they rush a bill through congress that was so incredibly vague and open ended? Also easy, they did it because on the other end they could do whatever they wanted, as far as buying their way into the private sector. Ah ha! They are buying their way further into the private markets under the guise of a heroic rescuer.

Why, should we worry about the government take over of the private markets? Well, it's very simple. As we have it now, each individual has a small part in creating and controlling the economy. This spreading of the economic load across the shoulders of many, has been the saving grace of this country thus far. Individual responsibility for each financial decision allowed the free market to micro-manage it's self. This is why governments have historically done horrible jobs of managing economies. They are too far detached. They simply cannot create an artificial system that works across the board. The Russians tried it with socialism. It failed. Besides all the talk about whether it could work theoretically, we cannot forget the human element in all of this: Power corrupts. This we must always deal with. There will always be a government. It is a necessary evil. But, before we allow ourselves to be intimidated into handing over the keys to the private sector, we must remember what is more important: Absolute power corrupts absolutely.