Pat Buchanan wrote a great article today; his basic premise is that the party is over. For the last few decades we have lived beyond our means. We have financed everything with debt. We don’t save a dime anymore.
The left argues that this is a failure of conservative capitalism, that we need more government involvement in our lives. That’s ridiculous. Does anyone really believe that our problems were caused by Wall Street being cautious and prudent?
Living Beyond Our Means
No, our problems are caused by living beyond our means, and by believing that government can save us. Here’s Mr. Buchanan’s conclusion:
Hank Paulson of Goldman Sachs and Ben Bernanke of the Fed chose to bail out Bear Sterns but let Lehman go under. They decided to nationalize Fannie and Freddie at a cost to taxpayers of hundreds of billions, putting the U.S. government behind $5 trillion in mortgages. They decided to buy AIG with $85 billion rather than see the insurance giant sink beneath the waves.
An unelected financial elite is now entrusted with the assignment of getting us out of a disaster into which an unelected financial elite plunged the nation. We are just spectators.
What the Greatest Generation handed down to us — the richest, most powerful, most self-sufficient republic in history, with the highest standard of living any nation had ever achieved — the baby boomers, oblivious and self-indulgent to the end, have frittered away.
Sad, but true; you can read the full article here.
Loading ...