Stage 2

The Government's view of business can be summed up as this, "If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it" (Ronald Reagan). You are of course suppose to subsidize while continuing to tax and regulate. Well, it is safe to say that we are moving into phase 2 for the financial industry, regulate it. Here are some of the highlights from the new Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner. These are suppose to be some of the new "rules of the game".

• Imposing tougher standards on financial institutions judged to be so big that their failure would represent a risk to the entire system.

• Extending federal regulations for the first time to all trading in financial derivatives, exotic financial instruments such as credit default swaps that were blamed for much of the damage in the meltdown.

• Requiring hedge funds and other private pools of capital, including private equity funds and venture capital funds, to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission if their assets exceed a certain size. The threshold amount has yet to be determined.

• Creating a systemic risk regulator to monitor the biggest institutions. Geithner did not designate where such authority should reside, but the administration is expected to support awarding this power to the Federal Reserve.

Taken from this AP article.

Does anyone else think that awarding the Fed with the power to monitor and regulate risk for private companies is a bad idea? After everything the Fed has done to cause the current mess that were are in, these people want to give them more power to harm? These are some sick (some are just mislead) people. If America really doesn't want to be a big player in the financial world anymore, these steps are perfect.

This should be enough to put the American financial system in a strangle hold. Perhaps the next administration will come along and "help" the financial industry by subsidizing it (read large amounts of sarcasm). This is just another (large) step down the road to Socialism. As Mises tried to warn us, Middle of the Road Policies Lead to Socialism, and this is not even a middle of the road policy!

So onwards we continue, in public transportation, speeding down the Fabian Highway with a final destination of Socialism City. Someone needs to commandeer the bus and make a U-turn, changing the destination to the City of Financial Freedom. Of course, no one person can change the destination of the bus. It will take many individuals standing up and fighting for freedom before the bus will alter it's course. This requires those who understand that economic freedom can not separated from individual freedom, to stand firmly for what they believe and also to educate those who are willing to learn. It is not going to be easy, but it is necessary.