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February 10, 2012
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Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
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Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
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Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
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January 30, 2012
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January 27, 2012
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Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
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Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
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Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
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Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
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Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
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January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
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Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
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January 11, 2012
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Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
Nov. 19, 2008
/ 21 Mar-Cheshvan 5769
$350 billion bailout is on the table and it would be smart to leave it there
By
Robert Robb
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
The transmogrification of federal bailout efforts illustrates why the government should not be in this game.
Simply put, government has neither the wisdom nor the self-restraint to manage a bailout or ameliorate necessary market corrections, regardless of how large or painful they may become.
Free markets depend on failure. This is a hard concept for many people to understand or accept. But failure is how markets impose discipline and reallocate resources from less efficient producers to more efficient ones.
Bailouts are an attempt by government to interrupt and prevent market failures.
Initially, this was justified on the basis that government needed to act to prevent systemic risk. This is the fear that the failure of company A will lead to the failure of Companies B, C and D, and then we'll all be standing in bread lines.
So, to prevent feared systemic failure, the federal government forced the fire sale of Bear Stearns and took over the country's two largest mortgage firms and the country's largest insurance company.
Rather than deal with the fear of systemic risk one company at a time, the Bush administration proposed that the federal government get into the business of buying distressed assets from financial institutions, particularly mortgage-backed securities, thought to be the heart of the problem.
Congress allocated $700 billion for the program. Although the language of the bill was written irresponsibly loosely, it was clear to all that the purpose was to buy distressed assets directly. It was even called, legally in the legislation, the Troubled Assets Relief Program.
Now, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has announced that none of the money will be used for the purpose for which it was allocated. Not a penny.
Instead, Paulson has been using the money to buy preferred shares in financial institutions. He began by investing in nine large banks he described to the American people as healthy. In other words, they didn't need the money.
This was supposedly to reduce the stigma attached to participating in the program, so that the financial institutions that did need help wouldn't be reluctant to ask for it. Instead, a reverse stigma was created. Healthy smaller banks felt obligated to try to get federal funds as well, fearing being perceived as too weak to qualify.
So, presumably to try to restore "confidence" in the system as a whole, the government has purposely obscured from depositors and investors which banks are healthy and which need help. Remember that the next time you hear some government official pontificating about the need for more transparency in private markets.
It's clear that the Bush administration is no longer trying to do the minimum necessary to avoid systemic risk, the collapse of the entire financial system. In fact, Paulson has declared that that danger has passed.
Instead, the Bush administration is trying to use its pile of money to make more credit available on easier terms in an effort to goose the economy. So, Treasury wants to expand the program to include companies dealing with auto, student and consumer credit, none of which can be remotely described as representing a systemic risk to the financial system as a whole.
Democrats in Congress want to include the auto companies themselves, which is most accurately seen as a jobs program. Auto parts manufacturers want in on the action.
So, rather than a targeted program to avoid systemic risk, there's a $700 billion grab bag for whatever interests can politically muscle their way to the front of the line.
This isn't to say that government has to remain idle during economic downturns. The government is good at writing checks. It can increase income support to those most vulnerable during a slow economy.
However, the government is incapable of managing or ameliorating fundamental market corrections. If the country has overinvested in housing, housing prices have to come down. If the country has overborrowed, credit must become more scarce and costly. If auto companies have developed unsustainable cost structures, they need to pare their expenses through bankruptcy reorganization.
The federal bailout bill allocated an initial $350 billion, with Treasury able to trigger the second $350 billion subject to a vote of disapproval by Congress.
The sensible thing to do at this point would be to shut the program down. Paulson has indicated that he might not trigger the second $350 billion.
But that would leave $350 billion on the table. And that's a temptation I doubt the politicians can resist.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Robert Robb is a columnist for The Arizona Republic. Comment by clicking here.
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© 2008, The Arizona Republic
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