I hate to admit it, but I agree with this…. Sort of…

Via RealClearMarkets – “In Times of Crisis, Trust Capitalism”:

The biggest bank failure in the history of the United States happened last Thursday night and by Friday morning, it was business as usual. The only difference was the name on the door and the losses suffered by those unfortunate enough to invest in Washington Mutual bonds or stock. The taxpayers didn’t lose anything and depositors didn’t lose anything, only investors. That is how capitalism works in case everyone has forgotten.

The “crisis” we face today is not a creation of the market. Government intervention over many years (but especially the last year) is what brought us to the point where we’ve placed our hopes for economic recovery on the good intentions of a Congress facing re-election in a few weeks. There has been much commentary recently about the role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the creation and expansion of the sub-prime mortgage market which many believe to be the cause of this mess.

That criticism is certainly warranted, but little attention has been paid to the real culprit – the Federal Reserve. Furthermore, what attention there has been is concentrated on the role of Alan Greenspan rather than Ben Bernanke. While Alan Greenspan deserves his share of the blame, Bernanke’s contribution to this mess should not be minimized or excused.

I have something to add to this as well. The biggest problem with this all is, most of this money, that’s being lost, is not even our money, it’s China’s money! Also half of the money being printed, does not have any gold to back it up! This is why our inflation is so high. As Joseph notes above, our biggest problem with our nation’s Economy is the Federal Reserve. If we got rid of the Federal Reserve, and went back to the 100% Gold Standard, much of our Nation’s Economic problems would be solved. Not to mention, if we stopped getting money from China.

The only thing that I really disagree with here, in a way, is the assessment that this all will not affect the American Taxpayers. In a sense, it will affect the taxpayers. Because it will cause a overall stall in the economy. This will translate into a crunch in the business world, small and mid-size businesses that do not have a great deal of capital will not be able to barrow money for needed expenses. This will cause a overall tightening of the financial belt amongst the Small to mid-sized business and will force them to dump employees.

Locally here in Michigan, our unemployment is at 7%, last I checked, I expect that to soar and get even worse, if this continues. Personally, I have family members who are paranoid about their jobs being lost. I assume that those jobs will get even more unstable, if this wears on.

Not to mention the fact that Taxpayers are watching their 401K’s and retirement nest eggs go down the tubes as well. That affects Conservatives who do not believe in using Social Security as a form of income. So, in a matter of speaking, this is going to effect everyone. In the form of Jobs, Retirements, 401k’s and more much.