Sowell on the "Newer Deal"

spot on, as per his usual

so anyway, Thomas Sowell's recent post 'Stimulus' Plan Is Really About Enlarging Gov't is not to be missed.

Money quote:

In the name of protecting the taxpayers' investment, they are buying the power to tell General Motors how to make cars, banks how to bank and, before it is all over with, all sorts of other people how to do the work they specialize in, and for which members of Congress have no competence, much less expertise.

This administration and Congress are in a position to do what Franklin Roosevelt did during the Great Depression of the 1930s — use a crisis of the times to create new institutions that will last for generations.

To this day, we are still subsidizing millionaires in agriculture because farmers were having a tough time in the 1930s.

h/t to Four Right Wing Wackos for the enlightenment.

Being employed in The Stoopid Business™*, I have a concerned interest in the government telling automakers and subsequently the automaker's suppliers (after all, we suppliers make the parts that the automakers merely assemble to make cars) how to do our jobs. Couple that with the recent news regarding environmental regulations and new C.A.F.E. standards**; yeah, you could say that I'm uncomfortable with more government involvement.

OTOH, if my employer doesn't get some of that sweet, sweet bailout money soon, my family and I could be living in a cardboard box under an overpass in a matter of a couple of week's time.

Conflicted much? Welcome to my world.

Related: Dale Franks of Q and O fame has posted a Econ 101: Neo-Keynesian piece that bears reading:

On the bright side, we will now have a fascinating experiment to see if Lord Keynes' original ideas have any merit. And you, my friends, get to be the test subjects.

I like Dale's thinking; Keynes, not so much. Read the whole thing.

more soon

*Yes, I really need to write my expose on the Stoopid Business™. Recent events have held me back, it would read like "piling on" in light of the public bashing my industry has taken over the past 6-8 weeks. It is coming, eventually.

**Inceasing the C.A.F.E. standards has two immediate impacts: first, more people will die in car crashes. The quickest, cheapest way to improve fuel economy is to reduce vehicle weight; the lighter the vehicle, the less likely it (and it's occupants) survives the crash. Period. Full Stop. Second, higher C.A.F.E. standards point to "downsizing" for the automakers and their suppliers. Guess where my personal interest lies.....