The new economy created by the computer revolution and globalization requires small, nimble, decentralized companies that can adapt quickly to rapid change and constantly evolving consumer tastes and needs. The era of Big Business is over, and good riddance. However, tragically the Obama Administration (copying the Bush Administration) is trying to preserve the status quo, by pouring endless billions into the collapsing giants of the old order. It is all money wasted, as the economy cannot recover until it is reformed out of the fragments of the shattered giants.
LET THEM FAIL so that a new economic order may rise triumphantly from the ruins, ushering in what promises to be the most prosperous period in human history. But it can't happen until the wreckage of the old institutions are swept away. These futile attempts to prop up the old order are doomed to fail and all the money we are spending is being wasted. According to Americans for Limited Government:
In the debate over moral hazard, one argument often made is that certain institutions are simply too big to fail. That, if they are allowed to fail, the greater economy will be irreparably damaged, and the people will be unnecessarily hurt.
The reality emerging, however, is that the crumbling financial system is, in fact, too big to save. And the bailouts themselves are irreparably damaging the economy, and yes, the people are hurting badly as a result. Unnecessarily.
The bailouts are not working. They have all to date proven to be insufficient at addressing the structural problems internally and externally that prevent these companies from returning to solvency and self-sufficiency. They should be allowed to fail. Allowed to go bankrupt. And allowed to be gutted by market forces.
The debt being placed upon the American people is a heavy burden that they did not ask for, did not vote for, and is one that can never possibly be paid back. The dawning reality is that these companies: AIG, the automakers, the banks, the housing sector—indeed, Big Government itself—are not too big to fail, but too big to save.
And that case must be made loud and clear to lawmakers before they proceed even further into the breach. Before the economy is irreparably broken and the nation forever bankrupted.
Too bad Milton Friedman isn't around to put today's economic planners in their place as he does here to a blathering Phil Donahue.
Leo at the Beach
When my nephews were in high school they used to complain that all the girls in their class were swooning over Leo DiCaprio, then at his sex symbol peak in Titanic. My nephews contemptuously called him "Leohomio DeFaggio." Hey, even I had to laugh. Anyway, it looks from this recent paparazzi photo of Leo at the beach that he's getting a bit flabby, although his fading physique does not seem to have resulted in a decline in the quality of his female companionship.
Bye Delano's
One of the last of the downtown Amherst joints that were in existence when I was a UMass student is gone, replaced by a new establishment called Stackers.
From what I could see looking through the window, it appeared to be pretty much the same as it used to be, only with fresh paint and a new name.
Refugee
Yesterday my friend J.P. and I drove through the Amherst Wildlife Refuge.
It wasn't worth getting out to walk around, with everything so snowy, although the view was impressive.
This is as far from the car as I wandered, but I promise to return in nicer weather to check out the scene in more detail.
Today's Video
Iron Horse dude Jim Neill looks a little like Bob Weir's lost brother.
Bobby
He also took this picture of members of the band Fountains of Wayne walking on the streets of Northampton on Sunday.
Fountains of Wayne had a hit in 2003 with Stacy's Mom, which is also one of the songs most used by people making fools of themselves in YouTube videos. Among them is my name mate Tom Devine of Great Britain (in dress) showing that Tom Devines are eccentric in all nations.
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