Robert Higgs has this scathing run-down of the recently passed bailout bill. A taste:
"Sure enough, in the days after the bill’s initial defeat, its managers took the monstrosity that had failed on Monday and made it even uglier. Their purpose, of course, was to buy off the bill’s opponents in Congress by sweetening it with all sorts of more or less unrelated provisions intended to channel benefits to the opponents’ constituents and supporters. In short, in Washington last week, business went on as usual: Congress is the name; corruption is the game."
On a related note, Taxpayers for Common Sense lists some of those "sweeteners" that helped the bill’s passage. Can someone please explain to me how exempting wooden arrows from excise taxation will help "unfreeze the credit markets" as this bill is supposed to do?
But please don’t tell me any of this surprises you. Not only do I pity those of you who place angelic and omniscient qualities upon the state and our elected leaders, I join Professor Boudreaux in questioning your intelligence:
"Children can be excused for believing in Santa Claus; they are, after all, children. Adults cannot be excused for believing in the beneficence and wisdom of the state. This institution’s foolishness and predations are visible for all who care to see. …I cannot respect the intelligence of adults who continue to insist that empowering strangers sitting beneath a marble dome to take and spend other people’s money is wise and sensible."
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