Armageddon Avoidance, Now With Tax Rebates For Oregon Arrowheads

Here's Prof. K. on the bailout/rescue bill. I agree that there is a certain moral dimension to our current economic crisis, although with another 50 words I'd have pointed out that we get the behavior our laws and regulations encourage. When the government requires lending institutions to give out foolish loans (it wasn't discrimination against minorities, it was weeding out poor credit risks), it is not rocket science to see that everyone's going to want in on the action. What you subsidize, you get more of, as we Conservatives keep repeating. To no avail, but it's nonetheless true.

But I like his political analysis very much.

Without claiming to understand all the arcane details, I know that we face a huge economic challenge right now. Perhaps, given enough time, the market will correct itself, clearing the inventory of foreclosed properties and allowing savvy investors to build something out of the rubble of failed financial institutions.

Do we have that time? Will our adversaries and competitors abroad wait for us to sort things out at home? Will we actually be able to learn those harsh - and perhaps necessary - economic (and, above all, moral) lessons if our economic difficulties carry Barack Obama to power and give him even larger Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress?

I'm not confident on either score. Terrorists will only be too eager to dig a deeper hole for a weakened and distracted America.

And I certainly haven't heard Democrats speak about us as anything other than victims in need of being rescued posthaste from Republican incompetence and capitalist malfeasance. They'll feed our eagerness to hold the other guy accountable and to make him (and our great-grandchildren) pay the bill. It's not our fault, they'll tell us. And we're too inclined to listen.

But I actually do have some confidence that, after a couple of days of watching the markets and the polls, folks in Washington will find a way to muddle through. Conservatives need a seat at that table, not because the result will be something that they can celebrate, but because obdurate opposition will only buy them a long sojourn in the political wilderness.

Don't really know where to go from here, as the 400 pp., not-earmarkful Senate bill proved Thomas Sowell right as usual.

The longer it takes Congress to pass the bailout bill, the more of those goodies are going to find their way into the legislation. Speed is important, not just to protect the financial markets but to protect the taxpayers from having more of their hard-earned money squandered by politicians.

When Sens. Coburn and DeMint take opposite sides, what's a gal to think? Mr. Sowell had me all persuaded of the need to act urgently, and I'll still stick with him in a fair fight, but I'm beginning to doubt...for the reason Mark Steyn mentions here. No, wait, not there. Here. Rush spent some time on my drive home today mocking the idea that anyone is hurting for credit.

But then there's this.