COTD: Cataclysm

clipped from rate.forbes.com Doing nothing is the best option. The credit markets went haywire after Lehman failed because the market had expected the government to bail them out like they had everyone else. Government interference in the markets is bad enough; inconsistent interference in the markets causes cataclysm. Some level of turbulence in the markets should be expected and respected. That is life. To demand that there be no creative destruction in the economy is to adopt a spoiled, childish attitude. Instead of complaining about bank misbehavior, people would be better off spending their time protesting the stealing of money from the taxpayer to bail out banks. And bankruptcy is not nationalization. They are two different concepts. To go bankrupt is to cease financial existence. To be nationalized is to be taken over by force by the government. The former happens; the latter is illegitimate. The government has no business declaring winners and losers in the market.