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Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Mark Sanford: Bailouts are awful
Mark Sanford, governor of South Carolina, is one of the few politicians standing firm against bailout mania. In fact, his record as a genuine fiscal conservative is nearly unparalleled for any politician in the U.S. (Texas congressman Ron Paul, and Arizona congressman Jeff Flake have comparable voting records, but that just about exhausts the list).
In a piece for Esquire magazine, Sanford presents three reasons to be opposed to the wave of bailouts and government spending to "save" beleaguered businesses and companies. The three points are these:
1. We've had bailouts and stimulus cheques before. They didn't work. Why do we keep thinking that the government spending money on these things will actually help?
2. The advocates of the bailouts are the same people who were wrong about, for example, the need to reform Freddie Mac and Fannie May. They were wrong then, isn't that a reason for us to be skeptical of their prognostications now?
3. We need to learn from history -- in particular, we need the right analysis of the Great Depression. And the right analysis is that more government action actually prolonged the Depression. In addition, government spending and government programs do not, in fact, end recessions or even help them. They do the opposite.
The whole piece is worth reading. It is also worth supporting Sanford in general, especially if he decides to make a push to get the Republican nod as GOP candidate for president in 2012.
Posted by P.M. Jaworski on January 7, 2009 in Economic freedom | Permalink
Comments
I like him but he blinked and sold out to the unemployment benefits commission of SC when he changed his mind at the last minute on Sunday.
Posted by: Omar Abu Hatem | 2009-01-07 3:48:03 PM
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