Posted by
Always To The Right on Monday, September 29, 2008 9:50:28 PM
As the financial turbulence in the U.S. spreads, we've heard talk,
especially from overseas pundits, of a "crisis of capitalism." But what
we really have is a crisis of confidence, and the sooner it's solved,
the better.
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Polls show more than 50% of Americans oppose what the pollsters call
a "bailout" (but what we prefer to call a rescue). Meanwhile, a USA
Today poll found that nearly a third of Americans think we're in a
depression.
Concern about the financial system is fully justified. But excessive
gloom is not. In the most recent quarter, GDP rose 2.1% year over year,
3.1% excluding housing. Hardly a depression. So let's not talk
ourselves into one.
We, too, have qualms about the rescue effort. Washington under
Democrat-led Congresses wrote the rules that made this mess possible,
and we have little confidence in their ability to get us out of it.
We're not short on capital, as we said, but on confidence. Passing a
bill, even if flawed, would go a long way to restoring the latter.