Oh my, the outrage. The government transferring hundreds of billions of dollars of the taxpayer’s money to private corporations to save them from their own poor judgment and incompetence. And a chorus of public officials cries out that it had to be done– the risk to Wall Street was too great. For the government to allow these pirates of free enterprise to endure the real consequences of their high risk ventures would be unspeakable, intolerable, inconceivable! Almost as if a financial Katrina had blasted into Manhattan. Save us!
I don’t suppose they are in the mood to hear anything about responsibility, and dependency, and “sucking at the teat of government largesse” or such. Or how government bailouts breed weakness and indolence. How the market system is so great because failure is punished and success is rewarded. I suppose not.
Socialism for the rich
Our government provides massive subsidies to numerous industries, including the very profitable oil industry. A simple man might ask himself why, if our economic system is supposed to be free enterprise, and if we as a society value individual responsibility and self-reliance, and if we are so quick to deny services and benefits to the average citizen because they would be “too costly”, would encourage dependency and sloth, and be a drag on the system, then why oh why should the government bail out the Wall Street banks?
Why Canada Did Not Need a Bailout (or what good government looks like).