Eroding Freedom

The commentary AMBROSE: Ugly bailout fallout appeared in The Washington Times in the wake of the passage of the bailout bill. Although published on October 19, 2008 the author's words are prophetic:

Again and again, this Wall Street package will be used as an excuse to try to take freedom out of our markets, to throttle them with excessive regulation and leave them shorn of the innovation and energy that add up to prosperity. It will be used as an excuse for something else, too — creation of a European-style welfare state.

We have not arrived at that point but are heading in that direction. Geithner and others in government have made it plain that they intend nothing less than a right to determine how business recipients of public funding go about conducting business. Not very surprising and a major concern of many critics of the bill at the time it was formulated. More:

A chief argument on behalf of a commercial police state will be that regulatory laxity gave us the moment's pandemonium when, in fact, the main instigating factor was Democratic-sponsored social engineering abetted by the Federal Reserve's easy-money policies, ultimately leading beyond a doubt to irresponsible executive behavior in private institutions.

No one is arguing that government does not have a legitimate regulatory role to play but regulating, with the purpose of inhibiting fraud and questionable business practices, is a far cry from insisting on a right to determine policies about how business is conducted.