Principles in Practice: The Blog of the Objective Standard

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Urgent: Oppose Bailout of Wall Street Now

Posted by Craig Biddle at 4:12 PM

Despite enormous citizen opposition to the proposed $700 billion bailout of Wall Street, U.S. lawmakers are reviewing a tentative agreement to pass it, and the House and Senate likely will vote tomorrow. This proposal is an outrage, and Americans who value liberty must oppose it in the strongest terms possible.

I urge you to write your elected officials and the presidential candidates now. Tell them that supporting this bill is an obscene dereliction of responsibility and a travesty of justice, and let them know that you will forever condemn any and all politicians who support it.

You can contact elected officials using this website. Here is the basic text of a letter I sent out yesterday, which I modified per varying contexts. You are welcome to use this text as is or modify it as you see fit.

Dear [elected official]:

I and other Americans will forever condemn any and all politicians who vote for or in any way support a bailout of Wall Street.

Every thinking American knows that the cause of this catastrophe was government intervention in the economy via the Federal Reserve, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Community Reinvestment Act, etc. The notion that more government intervention will solve the problem is absurd, and to act on that notion would be an obscene dereliction of responsibility and a travesty of justice.

The only sound solution to this problem is for the government to acknowledge that its intervention is the fundamental cause of the situation, and, correspondingly, to remove its hands from the economy and let the market correct itself via bankruptcy procedures, liquidations, takeovers, etc. This would lead to a highly volatile market for a brief time, but the market would quickly reallocate assets to those who are most competent, and the economy would begin to recover.

This is not rocket science; it is economics 101, and Americans know it. Don’t test us.

Sincerely,

Craig Biddle
[address]
[phone number]

Labels: Announcements, Business and Economics, Individual Rights and Law