As we consider the world’s rulers, one question overshadows all the others: are they fools or charlatans? Having thought about this question for nearly half a century, I lean toward the view that they are both. If the masses were to arrive at this answer, of course, the entire apparatus of legalized robbery and abuse we call government would quickly crumble to dust. Therefore, rulers appreciate that they must busy themselves in prominent displays of their deep concern for the public’s well-being and in make-believe efforts to “solve the problems” that trouble the common people.
The latest such exhibition took place in Washington, D.C., on Friday and Saturday, when the leaders of the G-20 nations met to give the appearance that they are, as AP reporter Jennifer Loven reports, “battling a dire and deepening economic crisis.” Fortunately for everybody, these clown princes failed to reach agreement on any Grand Plan to Save the World. Such plans invariably make matters worse. Let us pray for gridlock...
Very good indeed that no one spoke aloud about the “easy credit,” because doing so would lead too directly to a recognition that the Fed and other government agencies made such credit conditons both possible and, in certain areas, such as subprime mortgage loans, virtually mandatory...
It would have been a godsend if the president’s economic adviser had alerted him to the fact that the original Great Depression occurred not because the market system suddently went horribly awry, but because a relentless series of counterproductive government polices transformed what would probably have been a brief recession into an unprecedented economic catastrophe...
but nearly all economists now agree that in some way the severity and duration of the Depression may be traced to government policy errors, not to a spontaneous breakdown of the market system.
Ernest Hemingway is alleged to have said, “The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.” Whether Hemingway made this statement or not, it’s true.
LewRockwell.com Blog: Our Rulers: Are They Fools or Charlatans?
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