Comments on: Why “We Have To Do Something About The Economy” Is A Bogus Argument

By: Dividend Tree Potpourri – August 16, 2009 | Dividend Tree

Dividend Tree Potpourri – August 16, 2009 | Dividend Tree — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 11:35:51 +0000

[...] Economy – a bogus argument? [...]

By: Kyle

Kyle — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:25:00 +0000

Bob, I meant since its inception. But I also strongly disagree the SEC didn’t do much to improve the quality of capital markets relative to those two firms, since the SEC isn’t actually the primary regulator of commercial banking activities. There actually isn’t one.

By: Bob

Bob — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 03:35:43 +0000

you say ” For example, I think the Securities And Exchange Commission (SEC) has dramatically improved the quality and international competitiveness of American capital markets and has helped the middle class more fully participate in the nation’s prosperity.” what’s you timeframe for making this observation? The SEC was the regulator for Bear and Lehman and certainly didn’t do too much to improve the quality of the capital markets relative to those two firms.

By: Curt

Curt — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:02:59 +0000

The government has been interfering for far to long and in the last year has taken over several entire industries. The government is fighting against capitalism, the one system that has brought prosperity.

Voters want it both ways. We want to elect politicians like Obama that say they will reduce taxes and increase entitlement programs. But there is nothing they can do in the short term. The nation is already broke.

Creating more money or borrowing more money only worsens the long term economic condition that we are in.

By: The Incidental Economist

The Incidental Economist — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:41:19 +0000

Having to do something is a political imperative. Doing nothing may be the right thing to do for non-political reasons. However, if you do nothing you get blamed for the bad and it is harder to take credit for the good. If you do something you can always say it would have been worse but for your actions (that’s the current argument). When things turn up (and they always do eventually) you can take credit.

It isn’t just government that is victim of this way of thinking. The medical profession makes a substantial amount of its money on the premise that it is safer to do something.

Fundamentally, anybody that others view as responsible for consequences is motivated to do something over nothing.