Of Bailouts, Rent Seeking And "Opportunity"

clipped from pajamasmedia.com At this point, it is often easier for corporations to satisfy their greed by lobbying for government funds than by engaging in productive activity. As Gordon Gekko put it in his speech, “[t]he new law of evolution in corporate America seems to be survival of the unfittest.” Failing firms are using their very failures as justification for seeking bailouts. It is also ironic that Summers cites an excess of “fear” as one of the main dangers facing the American economy. Ironic because the administration he serves has itself been stoking that fear in order to undercut opposition to its programs. As White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel puts it, the crisis is “an opportunity to do things you could not do before . . . You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” An obvious corollary to this notion is that the “opportunity” will be even bigger the more “serious” people believe the crisis to be.

I repeat: Capitalism without bankruptcy is like Christianity without hell -- it doesn't work very well...