Monday, September 08, 2008

A Capitalist Conundrum

So let me see if I've got this right. Free market capitalism holds that you sink or swim in the marketplace; if you screw up, tough luck, buddy, you're on your own. They call it "moral hazard". Right, I think I understand.
But wait, what's this (http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/sep/08/freddiemacandfanniemae.creditcrunch )?
David Pallister exposes the hypocrisy of Wall Street as it responds almost orgasmically to a State bailout which makes Nortern Rock look infintesimal by comparison:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2008/sep/08/mortgages.useconomy ).
Remember those homilies from the Right's apostles throughout the 80s about the evils of subsidies? If that meant miners, steelworkers, manufacturing staff, etc. faced not just hardship for their families, but their communities, too, well, too bad, that's capitalism.
Pallister notes that Barack Obama "received $1.6m [£900,000] in contributions from the two companies [Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac] in the current election cycle".
Given the bailout the US Treasury has sanctioned, isn't this money now tainted?
The very least the Obama campaign could do is return the money to the Treasury.

No comments: