October 2008

What a crazy past few months we have had. The severity of the credit market failure and it causing a 40% drop in the stock market caught me by surprise. The central bankers can try to flood the markets with liquidity, but it seems that what is lacking is trust and confidence.

I just watched show tonight (October 17, 2008) on ABC's 20/20 where John Stossel had the nerve to suggest that in most cases free markets work better when government stays out of the way. He showed some examples and made a persuasive case for limiting government's well-intentioned interventions. I hope a lot of people get the message. I fear we are going to retry the failed policies of the FDR administration. At least we know to try to increase the money supply. Trade protectionism was a key reason the depression lasted so long and was so severe. One thing that Stossel noted in his show is that outdated government programs are seldom ended.