Cardinal

Here's a cardinal cleaning up post-Christmas left overs of bird seed.

Christmas 2008

The Economy in Common Language

Fred Thompson lays out in easy to understand language what happened in the economy and what needs to be done.



"Ask not what your country can spend for you you. Ask what you can spend for your country."

Similar to Peter Schiff, Thompson lays blame on over consumption and borrowing.

Lack of money corrupts?

I sent this letter to the Detroit Free Press today:

In "Why do these guys want to kill the Deal?" (Free Press 12/11) the authors fail to examine senators’ arguments in opposition to bailout.

Their answer to the question stated in the title is that the prominent leaders opposing the bailout do so precisely because they did not receive UAW money, and their opponents in the recent election did. No longer does money corrupt, or raise suspicion of corruption (I haven't seen a front page story yet entitled, "Why do these guys want to pass the deal?"), but now the lack of money corrupts!

Assuming the worst in politicians may not be a bad place to start, but why not critique those politicians who are taking the popular stand and were paid to do so? Some politicians believe in core, unchanging principles which lead them to oppose the bailout - the Free Press should hear them out.

Sincerely,
Benjamin Stafford

Boudreaux on the bailout

Don Boudreaux has a superb Op-Ed in the WSJ today on the bailout.

The popular and politically convenient myth has matters backwards: The bigger the unprofitable firm, the more vital it is that it be allowed to fail.

Not that I'm a cheerleader for failure, I'm not - I would hate to see the unemployment figure in this state (9.3%) go higher than it already is. But I would hate more this state becoming full of unprofitable, propped-up firms, and that epidemic spreading throughout the country.

Check it out.

Derek Kidner (1913-2008)

I just read that Derek Kidner has died. Kidner has been my favorite scholar from which to learn about the Old Testament. I am currently working through his commentaries on the Psalms. Below is a quotation from his commentary on Chapter 37: 16-20

While verse 16 could stand on its own, as a purely moral judgement like that of Proverbs 28:6, the righteous man, however poor he is, has better porspects as well as a better concience than the godless. The Gospel sayings, like those of 17-19, take full account of temporal needs (e.g. Mt. 6:31ff.; 19:29); and in the psalm as in the New Testament the real security and wealth lie not 'in uncertain riches, but in the living God' (I Tim. 6:17). The general assurance, the Lord upholds (17), is heartening enough; still more the intimate exactness of the Lord knows the days . . . (18; cf. 31:15), which include all the days of famine (19).

Kidner's commentaries have both the depth and detail of a scholar for a scholar, and the devotional style of a teacher to a student.

Freedom and the Bailout

I sent this letter to the Midland Daily News today:

To the Editor:

It is a shame our country’s legislators and our state’s automakers are considering a bailout for the Big 3. On one side of the coin, any bailout saves a lot of jobs for a little while. On the flipside, a bailout reduces everyone’s standard of living. This second consequence economists often call the unintended consequence.

Here are some of the effects of a bailout from the powers that be: The failing business stays in business, even though it’s competitors deliver the product more efficiently. The workers keep their jobs, perhaps at above-market wages, even though this situation is not sustainable by the free market. The people footing the bill (the taxpayers) don’t have that money available to us to purchase the products we truly want. Finally, We all lose because the resources have been re-allocated inefficiently by force (the government), against what we, the customers, have already said we want. We instead get more of the failing business’s products and less of the succeeding business’s products. And what’s more? We have to pay for this situation to boot!

By ‘free market’, I do not refer to that dream of some economists in which there is perfect efficiency and all their supply & demand graphs are in equilibrium. I envision a society whose members are free to enjoy the fruits of their labor as they please.

Benjamin Stafford

License to Monopolize

I sent this letter in to the Jackson Citizen Patriot today.

Of the many ills people blame the free market for producing is the existence of monopolies. I was reminded of this myth on Thanksgiving and of the real culprit responsible for monopolies – the government.

I know some people who, a few years ago acquired a small piece of land on which they started planting a number of trees, Christmas trees among them. This year they wanted to sell some trees to folks just to make a little money on the side, but more for the satisfaction of having nurtured a plant, see it grow, then serve their fellow man by making an exchange – tree for money.

Unfortunately, voluntary transactions that would have otherwise occurred now cannot. The state of Michigan requires Christmas tree sellers to have a license. The tree farm is too small and the cost to get a license too great for these people to worry about the hassle. This is where true monopolies come from: the government forcing them on the economy. The only people in favor of such draconian regulations are the current Christmas tree sellers. The logic is simple: more sellers increase their competition.

Of course, this regulation and others like it are the least of this state’s problems. But only a government with a bureaucracy so invasive and with its tentacles reaching to nearly every part of the average citizen’s life and work can produce such strange regulations. Regulations from a central authority do not improve the standard of living for the masses; but each individual pursuing his own interests without being coerced or regulated always helps create a better life for the whole community.