U.S. Secretary Of The Treasury Doesn't Believe In Free Markets

This Just In

Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner believes that only government can get us out of this economic mess, because you, dear reader, are too weak to turn the economy around on your (our) own. We got ourselves into this mess; but somehow we are just too weak, dumb and irresponsible to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and kick the ass end of our economy back into business. This is total bunk; and I can explain why. But first, I would like to give you the job description of the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, straight from the Department of the Treasury website.

The job description:

The Secretary of the Treasury is the principal economic advisor to the President and plays a critical role in policy-making by bringing an economic and government financial policy perspective to issues facing the government. The Secretary is responsible for formulating and recommending domestic and international financial, economic, and tax policy, participating in the formulation of broad fiscal policies that have general significance for the economy, and managing the public debt. The Secretary oversees the activities of the Department in carrying out its major law enforcement responsibilities; in serving as the financial agent for the United States Government; and in manufacturing coins and currency.

The Chief Financial Officer of the government, the Secretary serves as Chairman Pro Tempore of the President's Economic Policy Council, Chairman of the Boards and Managing Trustee of the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds, and as U.S. Governor of the International Monetary Fund, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

With a job description like that, it's very disturbing to hear Geithner's anti-free market statements that came from several appearances over the weekend. On politically-oriented talk shows, he stated that “...only Washington...” can solve our economic mess. He also stated: “the market will not solve this.” But we need to ask, if the market created this, why can it not solve it?

There has been no clear explanation from any economist, politician or banker who can explain why, even if these bad debts are taken off of the banks' books, that people, being as fear-filled as they are right now, will suddenly think everything has gone back to normal, and resume their pursuit of credit cards and loans, and resume living their lives in debt. There has also been no reason-oriented explanation, from any economist, as to why propping up insolvent, irresponsible companies with taxpayer dollars will get us anything less than more of the same economic malaise that we have right now. In fact, the economic policies being pursued by the President and his Cabinet, are right out of the teachings of John Maynard Keynes.

Keynes believed that a government can go into temporary debt in order to “prime the pump,” as he put it, of the economy, to get it rolling again. And once the recession was over, the temporary debt could be paid off – and government size reduced in lock step. (When have you ever known that to happen?) But first, and most importantly, Keynes's treatise on economics has been largely disproven. And second, is in fact, listed in modern economics textbooks as what not to do during an economic downturn. In other words, just like in science, it's an old model of thought that has been disproven with new information. It was a mistake then; and it's a mistake now.

But not only has the Obama administration adopted this outmoded thinking, it has also gone further into debt than Keynes himself prescribed. In short, we have politicos in Washington right now who are like Keynesians on steroids. And they're actually proud of the size and pursuit of their mistake. I've heard many times that trying to do the same activity, the same way, over and over, while expecting different outcomes is the definition of insanity. If that's true, then the most insane people on planet earth right now are the New Keynesians in Washington, D.C.

But let us not stop there. On another show, Geithner said "We came through a period where people borrowed too much and we let our financial system take on much too much risk."

Here I have to ask what I think are some very pertinent questions. What does he mean by “our financial system”? Does it belong to Washington? Or does it belong to the people? Is it Washington's responsibility to fix it, if it does belong to them? Or is it the peoples' responsibility to fix it, because it belongs to us?

I have always maintained that the government should play no role whatsoever in the economic comings and goings of any economy, because it's not the role of government to preside over the financial well being of individuals. That's simply not in their job description. Private well being, rather, is the responsibility of the individual. But collectivists will tell you this is nonsense. “It takes a village,” is one quote that comes to mind. “Sacrifice for the greater good,” is another (coined by the communists).

The true responsibility of government, in my humble opinion, is to provide the safest environment for individuals to interact with one another, not to make sure that everyone either suffers or succeeds equally. I'm sure there are millions, maybe billions, of people who disagree with my view. But in this case, “sacrifice for the greater good,” is just a euphemism for economic slavery. And I've expanded on that view in another post called “Iceland's Government Commits Economic Atrocity.”

I'm frustrated, horribly frustrated, to see my country being torn to pieces by collectivists, who are using ideas that are no longer accepted by any reasonable mind. Geithner has stated publicly that he clearly doesn't believe in individualism. So has basically all of Congress and The Senate. If this is the “change” that Obama promised, then what he really meant to say was “We'll bring more of the same, only much, much more.”