Whoever named it MF Global Holdings sure had some foresight. Today’s business headline: Securities firm fails by loaning money to people who can’t pay it back. By-line: Duh.
Only this time, the deadbeats are the governments of Europe. And the CEO of MF Global is a government guy too - Jon Corzine, Democrat ex-governor of New Jersey, ex-Senator, and former head of Goldman Sachs, AAA farm club for U.S. Treasury Secretaries. That bankrupt MF was one of just 22 institutions offered direct trading privileges with the Federal Reserve, our shadow government.
So with the bankruptcy of MF Global, can we now please stop pretending more government is the answer? Oh by the way, $700 million is missing from that lousy MF, and that MF CEO Corzine will receive a $12 million bonus as his lovely partying gift for running his giant MF right into the ground. So can we also stop pretending Democrats aren’t greedy, too?
This spectacular Wall Street crash-and-burn comes after the implementation of Dodd-Frank, mind you. Corzine is the guy the unions supported, mind you. Corzine is the guy who said we should be happy to pay more taxes, mind you.
Mr. More Government bet the ranch on government and sunk a $40 billion firm that had survived in the private equities markets for over a century. It is the eighth largest bankruptcy in history. He took down all the stockholders and a bunch of pension funds with him – funds invested in government bonds to avoid the risk of the stock market.
Now what?
Our President told us he fixed the problems of Wall Street – all that unregulated greed and betting of house money on leveraged deals…gone with the stroke of a pen, remember? And the leaders of the EU were high-fiving last week when they fixed the sovereign debt problems on the continent by another stroke of a pen, remember? Their stupid deal – default on 50% of the Greek debt held by private institutions – didn’t even last a week. MF Global is just the first casualty.
Betting on government is a bad wager.
Solyndra, Evergreen Solar, Beacon Power, and now MF Global – the list of firms whose business models rely on either government subsidy or simply government competence grows by the month. If the smartest of the Keynesians – Bernanke, Geithner, Summers, Romer, Corzine – can’t make that dog hunt, it is time to quit hoping something might change.
The United States debt just went over 100% of GDP a few days ago, and the media is consumed with whether or not Herman Cain made a gesture 15 years ago. Romney actually touched Perry – that must count as sodomy. There isn’t much to cover anyway; no politician in either party that has a plan to pay it off. Gary Johnson is the closest thing; he promises to balance the budget, which would merely freeze the debt where it is.
We can’t just hold down government spending and grow the economy; it is too late for that. We need to cut government spending and cut it dramatically. Those same Keynesians who don’t know how to fix the economy today will warn us that cutting government spending will hurt the economy tomorrow. Yeah, whatever.
I received a research report from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University last week that recounted the 75% cut in spending that occurred in the United States after WWII. The economy boomed. In the 1990’s, New Zealand faced up to its debt crisis by cutting government by 75% also – and the economy boomed. Canada has cut its national debt in half in recent years – and has shot up to #1 on the Forbes list of best countries in which to do business.
Do we see a pattern here? Cut government spending and reduce debt and the economy booms. Let’s try that again…cut government spending and reduce debt and the economy booms. Krugman, are you listening? Reich? How about Cain, Romney, Perry, Gingrich, Bachman, Huntsman, Santorum? I know Ron Paul gets it.
The argument for free enterprise is won at “free”. The un-free kind has shown itself to be unsustainable even with massive infusions of capital borrowed from future generations. If anyone could thrive in the debt economy, it would be MF Global, wedged between the “free” money of the Fed and the “guaranteed” returns of sovereign debt. It could not make it even sitting in the catbird seat.
Nothing is free. Nothing is guaranteed. Let’s all quit pretending.
“Moment Of Clarity” is a weekly commentary by Libertarian writer and speaker Tim Nerenz, Ph.D. Visit Tim’s website www.timnerenz.com to find your moment.
So with the bankruptcy of MF Global, can we now please stop pretending more government is the answer? Oh by the way, $700 million is missing from that lousy MF, and that MF CEO Corzine will receive a $12 million bonus as his lovely partying gift for running his giant MF right into the ground. So can we also stop pretending Democrats aren’t greedy, too?
This spectacular Wall Street crash-and-burn comes after the implementation of Dodd-Frank, mind you. Corzine is the guy the unions supported, mind you. Corzine is the guy who said we should be happy to pay more taxes, mind you.
Mr. More Government bet the ranch on government and sunk a $40 billion firm that had survived in the private equities markets for over a century. It is the eighth largest bankruptcy in history. He took down all the stockholders and a bunch of pension funds with him – funds invested in government bonds to avoid the risk of the stock market.
Now what?
Our President told us he fixed the problems of Wall Street – all that unregulated greed and betting of house money on leveraged deals…gone with the stroke of a pen, remember? And the leaders of the EU were high-fiving last week when they fixed the sovereign debt problems on the continent by another stroke of a pen, remember? Their stupid deal – default on 50% of the Greek debt held by private institutions – didn’t even last a week. MF Global is just the first casualty.
Betting on government is a bad wager.
Solyndra, Evergreen Solar, Beacon Power, and now MF Global – the list of firms whose business models rely on either government subsidy or simply government competence grows by the month. If the smartest of the Keynesians – Bernanke, Geithner, Summers, Romer, Corzine – can’t make that dog hunt, it is time to quit hoping something might change.
The United States debt just went over 100% of GDP a few days ago, and the media is consumed with whether or not Herman Cain made a gesture 15 years ago. Romney actually touched Perry – that must count as sodomy. There isn’t much to cover anyway; no politician in either party that has a plan to pay it off. Gary Johnson is the closest thing; he promises to balance the budget, which would merely freeze the debt where it is.
We can’t just hold down government spending and grow the economy; it is too late for that. We need to cut government spending and cut it dramatically. Those same Keynesians who don’t know how to fix the economy today will warn us that cutting government spending will hurt the economy tomorrow. Yeah, whatever.
I received a research report from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University last week that recounted the 75% cut in spending that occurred in the United States after WWII. The economy boomed. In the 1990’s, New Zealand faced up to its debt crisis by cutting government by 75% also – and the economy boomed. Canada has cut its national debt in half in recent years – and has shot up to #1 on the Forbes list of best countries in which to do business.
Do we see a pattern here? Cut government spending and reduce debt and the economy booms. Let’s try that again…cut government spending and reduce debt and the economy booms. Krugman, are you listening? Reich? How about Cain, Romney, Perry, Gingrich, Bachman, Huntsman, Santorum? I know Ron Paul gets it.
The argument for free enterprise is won at “free”. The un-free kind has shown itself to be unsustainable even with massive infusions of capital borrowed from future generations. If anyone could thrive in the debt economy, it would be MF Global, wedged between the “free” money of the Fed and the “guaranteed” returns of sovereign debt. It could not make it even sitting in the catbird seat.
Nothing is free. Nothing is guaranteed. Let’s all quit pretending.
“Moment Of Clarity” is a weekly commentary by Libertarian writer and speaker Tim Nerenz, Ph.D. Visit Tim’s website www.timnerenz.com to find your moment.
