Thursday, November 13, 2008

Firmly on That Road (You Libertarians Know Which One)

In his famous tome, The Road to Serfdom, Friederich Hayek argued that:

"...within a centrally planned economic system, the distribution and allocation of all resources and goods would devolve onto a small group..."

Well, we're there. The wheels of our government are firmly in the rut of the road that Hayek describes.

Exhibit 1:

Despite committing $290 Billion already, the government has taken no formal action to fill the watchdog committee to oversee the giveaways spending. From the WaPo article:

"...no formal action has been taken to fill the independent oversight posts established by Congress when it approved the bailout to prevent corruption and government waste. Nor has the first monitoring report required by lawmakers been completed, though the initial deadline has passed."

Exhibit 2:

Fed won't disclose names of recipients of $2 Trillion in loans. (Hey, it's only TWO trillion, its not like were talking big bucks here.) From the Austin Statesman (puttin' in a TX newspaper for our buddy Justin):

"Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson promised transparency when they asked Congress for the bailout billions. That hasn't happened. Bloomberg News, which sought the identity of the loan recipients under the federal Freedom of Information Act, was turned down and has sued to get the information."

Exhibit 3:

We've already abandoned the original plan, without any change in legislation, mind you. From the WSJ:

"Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson officially abandoned his original plan to buy troubled assets from financial institutions. While the government will continue to invest in those firms, he said, it would also now focus on the nation's struggling consumers."

So what's a poor consumer to do? I suggest you go for some of that Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) loot. As a public service we are posting the link to the form that will get your hands on your neighbors cash. (Officially, it is the Application for TARP Capital Purchase Program (CPP). I love bureaucracy just for the self parody.) Hurry and apply, before your buddy runs out of cash, or goes John Galt on you.

P.S. I remind one and all that this is happening under a Republican administration, despite the hubris displayed by the "Office of the President Elect." Could a more socialist scheme have been devised by Barney Frank? Can you blame the public for electing Democrats under these circumstances. At least they admit they like big government.

1 comment:

  1. What's most amazing to me about this is how process and procedures have completely evaporated in a matter of weeks. The whole things was only semi-legal to begin with and now all checks and balances have been blown away. No one cares. The MSM is too stupid to even know what's going on.

    The speed at which the Republic is falling into a dictatorship of arbitrary handouts by panicky politicians is stunning. And I don't mean a dictatorship like Mussolini's Italy. That was too orderly for this bunch. Instead, this is a dictatorship with 500+ dictators.

    It has all the arbitrariness of a dictatorship with none of the order and structure. Wild.

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