In a speech in New York ahead of the G20 summit President Bush warned against “Too Much” government in the markets. However, it may be difficult to take his words seriously given his actions as president. After all he is the same president with the help of a democrat controlled congress, weak or non-existent republican leadership, and a giant dose of scare mongering, rammed a $700 billion government takeover of banks, insurance companies, and financial services firms down the throat of a horrified American populace.

From Bloomberg:
President Bush said,

“Our aim should not be more government, it should be smarter government.”

In theory the president is correct, the government should be smarter, but in practice a smarter government would be a smaller government. Instead of passing new regulations, perhaps repealing misguided legislation that has put the “free market” in a stranglehold would be the proper remedy. Start with the Community Reinvestment Act, Sarbanes Oxley, and mark to market accounting requirements. Next, move to abolish central banking by repealing the Federal Reserve Act. And to conclude the resuscitation of the “free market”, repeal the 16th amendment (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.) and end all government bailouts by letting poorly run, non-solvent businesses fail.

Further down in the article, in a stunning revelation of insanity, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson claims that

“lack of consumption and accumulation of reserves in Asia and oil-exporting countries and structural issues in Europe” is also hurting the global economy.

This is madness; Paulson appears to be blaming consumers for the recession. Consumers don’t cause recessions and markets don’t go straight up without any downturns. Recessions are natural economic cycles. Asinine government intervention prolongs and worsens them.

-Crippy