Somebody do something! We need leadership! This is the clamor made by the media constantly in the midst of the economic crisis.

Frustration over the economy has the media taking us down a dangerous path: that of the idea that economic recovery needs leadership.

The same thing happened in Germany in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The Germans hungered for a leader to lead them out of the economic problems they had sustained during that time period. They got a leader. The word for leader in German is fuehrer.

In a free country with a free economy, the so-called leadership comes from the entrepreneurial or middle class, coupled with the decisions of the consumer with regard to what goods and services they will purchase. The economy is propelled by supply and demand, not government leadership or even regulation.

Yet the media and politicians would have us believe that the reason for our economic woes is that we did not have enough regulation by government (read, control by government).

Even if we would have had “adequate” regulations to prevent the financial market’s collapse it would have been just as much of a deterrent to economic growth due to the financial markets’ inability to zig or zag due to economic necessities without government approval. This in itself can also lead to a downfall due to the markets’ inability to move fast enough one way or the other to avert problems, simply because government bureaucrats can’t allow anything without consensus or committee decision.

As for the current situation, no one is talking any more about the policies of Clinton and Bush that created an impossible situation: forcing the mortgage companies to loosen up their loan policies to accept risky loans for the poor while forcing the mortgage companies into regulations that compounded the problem. It was direct interference by the government that set the stage for the current mess that we are in.

What we hear about instead is that the lack of government control or interference caused the problem.

If you had to accept bad loans, what would you do? You would be temped to bundle them all up with your good loans and get rid of them as fast as you could. This is what happened. This is not to excuse the CEOs because it is immoral and unethical. But short of resigning and running away as fast as you can, what else would you do?

We know that too many of the CEOs decided to take the millions in dollars in bonuses instead, but not all of them.

The idea that a government bureaucrat can make a better business decision than a businessman who is ultimately responsible for that decision is ludicrous. This idea can become clouded however when some businessmen behave in an unethical manner.

The point is, many are guilty of participating in a program that can only lead to total control of our financial markets in the near future. And, by this, control the entire economy. That is socialism. That is raw power. And, as Lord Acton reminded us, “Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

If people think that the financial markets are corrupt now, they haven’t seen anything yet. Millions, billions, and trillions under the control of government bureaucrats will corrupt our government. Soon, we will be seeing the Madoff’s of the world in government, siphoning off their fortune there.

Another factor that we need to remember relative to this crisis is that if a company or a group of companies make a mistake, the ramifications will vary in degree in the market place depending on the situation and how widespread the mistake is made.

If government makes the mistake, it affects the entire economy and all are affected.

If business makes the mistake, they are quick to change policy or they go out of business. If not, the punishment is that fact that they do go out of business and those associated in the mistake lose their employment.

If government makes the mistake, the wheels of change have to go through an excruciating process of committee and oversight to “get to the bottom” of the problem, find a scapegoat, weigh all the possible solutions, find the best means of promoting the Party in power, and then tax the people more to implement the solution.

In the end, the people suffer.

Worse, they may get a Leader.

 

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danwhitehead1 said:

	Leader We had a chance at a leader. Ron Paul. But since he wanted to cut down and cut back the out-of-control fedgov and put it back under the restaints of the Constitution where it belongs, he did not stand a chance. As Dr. Bob Jones, Jr. once said, "we get the leaders we deserve".
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March 13, 2009
Votes: +4

archtoplee said:

	Missing the point The point of the article is that the middle class is the driving force in a free market. Ron Paul told us over and over that he didn't want to do anything for us he wanted to do as little as possible. He knows, as does Mr. Thompson, that the answer lies not in "leadership" but in getting the government out of the way.
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March 13, 2009
Votes: +5

danwhitehead1 said:

	Leader That is exactly why Ron Paul would have been a good leader. I guess I didn't make myself clear.
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March 14, 2009
Votes: +1

MarkGlen said:

	Buying votes Government is still trying to solve the crash of 1929 with socialism.
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March 14, 2009 | url
Votes: +2

us and them said:

	We taught them to be socialist Our universities are filled with left wing nut job professors that spew crap and we are paying for our children to learn that....send em to a good trade school
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March 15, 2009
Votes: +3

Cadence said:

... Please read Congressman Louis T' McFadden's speech before Congress in 1934 and you will understand the REAL cause for today's economic crisis. He brought formal charges against the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve system, and for that he was assassinated. He hammered FDR for being part of the Insiders. http://home.hiwaay.net/~becraft/mcfadden.html Until we abolish the Federal Reserve and Congress's support for it, we will continue to sink until we have a total economic meltdown. Then that will open the door to communism. This crisis was planned, make no mistake about it

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March 16, 2009
Votes: +4

Daniel2011 said:

	We have the ZIG & ZAG ||| Use It The WebSite I have placed here - MY - WebSite totally explains very simply and easily how we can let the Free Market do all the corrections necessary right away, this very moment, by our acting right now, this very moment. Do it, we win. Don't do it? Not my fault. Enough said.
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March 16, 2009 | url
Votes: -1