Bailout: A Threat to Liberty and Prosperity

Sometimes the proposed cure is worse than the illness. That is the case with the bailout. The proposed bailout is only going to delay the inevitable. Unless Congress intervenes, bad decisions will be punished on Wall Street. But will voters punish their elected representatives who caused much of this through bad policies? Not likely.

I couldn't agree more with what Republican House Policy Chairman, Representative Thad McCotter (R-MI) said about the proposed bailout:

"We are faced with the first financial panic of the global economy. Thus, the Congressional action taken today will set a precedent affecting the prosperity of Americans for decades to come. The proposed $700 billion dollar Wall Street bailout bill is not a Republican solution; it is not a Democratic solution; it is not an
American solution. The proposed $700 billion dollar Wall Street Bailout is a socialist solution - one that, by threatening hardworking Americans' prosperity, unconscionably ransoms hardworking Americans' money and reduces their liberty. As such, it is a generational threat to Americans' liberty and prosperity. [emphasis mine]

Congress cannot re-inflate the bubble to save the American economy."

Former Congressman Dick Armey has it exactly right:

The difficult question each member of Congress faces today is simply this: Do you believe that the political process, having produced many of the perverse incentives that resulted in our economy’s current predicament, can solve these underlying distortions by essentially doing more of the same? I believe the answer to this question is unequivocally NO.

Here and here are two excellent columns on this mess. I highly recommend you read them.

Addendum: Another excellent overview of what caused the financial crisis.