Government Intervention Is The Cause Not The Solution To Our Financial Crisis

French president Nicolas Sarkozy recently said, “Laissez-faire is finished. The all-powerful market that always knows best is finished.” His is the opinion of many, including president-elect Obama. But has, however, this current financial crisis been caused by free markets and a hands off economy? I think not and neither does Yaron Brook or Don Watkins. They have produced an excellent article titled “Stop Blaming Capitalism for Government Failures.” Brook and Watkins write about the real story behind all the finger pointing:

But while capitalism may be a convenient scapegoat, it did not cause any of these problems. Indeed, whatever one wishes to call the unruly mixture of freedom and government controls that made up our economic and political system during the last three decades, one cannot call it capitalism. . . .

America came closest to this system in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The result was an unprecedented explosion of wealth creation and consequent rise in the standard of living. Even now, when the fading remnants of capitalism are badly crippled by endless controls, we see that the freest countries–those which retain the most capitalist elements–have the highest standard of living. . . .

It’s time to stop blaming capitalism for the sins of government intervention. . . .

Read the entire article here. . . .

The Mystery Of Christmas

“He became what we are that He might make us what He is.” (Athanasius)

“God became man to turn creatures into sons: not simply to produce better men of the old kind but to produce a new kind of man.” (C.S. Lewis)

“The mystery of Christ, that He sunk Himself into our flesh, is beyond all human understanding.” (Martin Luther)

Joseph Story: Christianity Is The Foundation Of Common Law

Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story

“One of the beautiful boasts of our municipal jurisprudence is that Christianity is a part of the Common Law. There never has been a period in which the Common Law did not recognize Christianity as lying at its foundations.” (US Congressman, Supreme Court Justice, Considered a “Father of American Jurisprudence”)

“If You Want A Rich Church, Find A Poor One.”

Andrée Seu has written an article at World Magazine titled, “Find A Poor Church.” This is definitely worth thinking about:

There is a saying, “If you want something done, ask a busy person.” Maybe we should also say, with similar irony, “If you want a rich church, find a poor one. . . .”

Continue reading here. . . .

The Patients Are Loose In The Asylum

How is it that we can possibly believe that our least trusted government institution – Congress – will handle the $700 billion bailout responsibly? Bush’s Presidency has been marked by bad luck and circumstances beyond control, but the economic bailout will render his legacy to the “Believe It or Not” greatest “dumb ideas” category.

Bush has paid lip-service to capitalism during his presidency. On the other hand, however, he has supported policies that have trashed the US economy. Using the fear of another Great Depression his administration has rushed in to tinker with the economy while ignoring the lessons of history. The meddling tactics of Hoover and Roosevelt, which made the Great Depression “great” and longer, are forgotten by the President and Congress.

The bailouts will be used to prop up failing businesses who it appears will continue to do what they have always done. Therefore, they will continue the practices that caused them to fail in the first place. When bureaucratic governments interfere in the economy beyond policing to protect people from dishonesty and fraud, they produce national disasters. Tough times require businesses to fix their own mistakes. This is how an economy heals.

Instead of accepting that some economic times will be harder than others, we have allowed the government to increasingly add layers of socialist/fascist regulations and policies into our capitalistic economic system to the point where we are no longer a capitalist nation. Thus capitalism is excused and the blame falls on socialist policies which forced lenders to make loans the borrowers could not pay back. The real “predatory” lenders are Congress and they plan to oversee the $700 billion bailout. I am reminded of the story of the patients taking over the asylum. . . .