Privatization - Bush/McCain style.
Bush and McCain are strong believers in converting government programs into private market-based enterprises. Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac were government agencies which were privatized a few years ago. So - how did that work out?
The essence of capitalism is a system of growth and decay. Economist Joseph Schumpeter coined the term "Creative Destruction" to describe this process.
<< The opening up of new markets, foreign or domestic, and the organizational development from the craft shop and factory to such concerns as U.S. Steel illustrate the same process of industrial mutation–if I may use that biological term–that incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one. This process of Creative Destruction is the essential fact about capitalism. It is what capitalism consists in and what every capitalist concern has got to live in. . . . >>
transcriptions.english.ucsb.edu
Capitalism Bush/McCain style is one that embraces the growth aspects of capitalism, but rejects the destruction half of the equation. When decay sets in government bails out the capitalists, e.g., Bear Sterns, oil companies with the Supreme Court reducing most of the damage in the Exxon Valdez disaster, bail out mortgage lenders, but not the borrowers, taxpayers bail out Bush's worthless investment in a baseball team by building a taxpayer financed stadium so Bush can then sell the team at a profit, etc., etc.
Now the latest chapter in this saga of "crony capitalism." - Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac. Now that they are in trouble, instead of letting the Schumpeterian process of "creative destruction" work, the government is prepared to buy these failed institutions back - after the market has proclaimed that they have failed.
<< The Treasury secretary would also have the authority to invest government money in the firms by buying their stock, a step that would only be taken if the firms don't have enough capital and are unable to raise it on private markets. >>
washingtonpost.com
Just to show that crony capitalism is sometimes a bi-partisan effort - Here in PA, there is a strong movement to sell the PA Turnpike. The cheerleader-in-chief is our Democratic governor Ed Rendell - who is rumored to be on Obama's short list for VP - well maybe the medium list.
Yet, the polls show the election a tossup. Throw in the Bradley effect and if the election were held today - say hello to President McCain. As Americans we will get what we deserve. |
