Friday, September 19, 2008

George Will lashes out against big government, McCain's claims

GRAND RAPIDS -- Conservative columnist George Will practically boiled out of his trademark bow tie Thursday night, lashing out at Republican presidential nominee John McCain's call for Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox's resignation.

Will's keynote appearance at the downtown JW Marriott capped the first day of a West Michigan Regional Policy Conference, which organizers said was trying to avoid being "West Michigan polite."

Will took a call from Cox shortly before taking the stage Thursday and was visibly perturbed when he hung up his phone.

"This is why some thoughtful conservatives have grave doubts about his ability to be president," Will said.

During a speech in Iowa Thursday, McCain said Cox, a close friend of Will's, "has betrayed the public trust" by allowing the nation's financial markets to deteriorate.

In his speech, Will said McCain worries conservatives because he is someone who "can so polarize every argument into a kind of moral melodrama. You can't have honest difference of opinion with John McCain. This is very difficult because to disagree with he who is honor personified is inherently dishonorable."

Will also took shots at the Bush administration and its willingness to intervene to prevent the failure of mismanaged companies.

"Where is the Bennigan's bailout?" he asked the crowd of more than 500.

He used the bankruptcy of the Bennigan's restaurant chain to note the "moral hazard" created by recent government bailouts of insurance giant AIG, mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and investment bank Bear Stearns.

He went on to blast proposed government bailouts of money-bleeding Detroit automakers as "lemon socialism" that subsidizes "those who fail the market test."

"You can make a case that AIG held paper, and we didn't know where it was, and Bear Stearns had debts and didn't know where this was and, therefore, they could have posed a systemic risk to the American economy if they had been allowed to go under," Will said. "I don't happen to believe that, but you could make the argument.

"No one can make the argument that were, say, Ford Motor Co. to file for bankruptcy that it would pose a systemic risk for our economy."

2 comments:

Pat R said...

it's hard to object to the government's mass bailouts as similar debt-producing methods were put into action to bring the U.S. out of the Depression... our economy has been supported and driven by debt ever since

Bryant Arms said...

Big business should not be allowed to become too large to fail. A business with that much influence is too big for a free market. It has access to wholesale market manipulation. And it has the privilege of depending on a government safety net if it fails.

The recent economic crisis demonstrates that such businesses will now be rescued at taxpayer’s expense when they suddenly collapse. The CEO of AIG has even demonstrated on national TV that big business leaders expect tax funded rescues. And that diminishes a primary incentive for them to be efficient and prudent. It may even encourage their board members to strategically create a crisis requiring a government bailout rather than suffer losses over time on their own. These business leaders have developed an attitude of entitlement that should inspire corporate welfare reform.

If businesses that are too big to fail are allowed to exist, then they should pay for their own government entitlement programs. This has been the arrangement for the lower classes. That is why social security tax rates in the United States become less for those who become wealthier. Wage earners should not be expected to pay for business welfare too. The influence these businesses have over markets should help them pay for their government programs. And to discourage corporate welfare fraud, those in charge of businesses that either purposely or by neglect cause the government to pay for their rescue should be punished for a kind of embezzlement.

Bryant Arms