David Theroux at the Independent Institute said the following about Bush's infamous summary of his post-bubble crash decision-making process:
When President George W. Bush was recently interviewed on CNN regarding the economy, he left us with another Bushism that will likely go down in history along the economy his interventionist policies are destroying, “I’ve abandoned free-market principles to save the free market system.”
I agree with the sentiment – that what Bush said is so stupid as to be considered a Bushism – but my immediate reaction was, "Not likely." Currently this is probably thought of as an example of a sudden outbreak of common sense. After all, isn't that the basic principle that's guiding Keynesian economics, the welfare state, and even the Cato-esque minarchy? Veering from a totally free market in order to allow markets to work most efficiently? If you ask me (which you don't), far from uttering perhaps his last Bushism while in office, the lamest duck since Woodrow Wilson actually summed up modern political and economic thought as eloquently and succinctly as I've ever heard it.
No comments:
Post a Comment