forever 1929

PROGRESSIVE DOGMA

For the want-a-be muckrakers such as Thomas Frank it is always the year 1929. One pictures him playing dress up in turn-of-the-century garb or soup line attire, bringing back old period words, writing away on an old style typewriter. Yes for sure he writes on an iMac, but for sure he hates it. You know capitalism brought about the computer revolution. Perhaps he sees the internet and all the new media as a necessary interludor until he can sway back the Nation into more sustainable times.

"Whats wrong with Kansas?" he asks. Well mr Frank, nothing. Whats wrong with you? This is a nation of values not class. Hard working poor people don't resent rich people if they earned what they've got and have similar values of work ethic, country, and faith. Something in the ten commandments about coveting neighborly things, has got him all hysterical that people don't vote for their "economic self interest" in his words. Ok mr Frank, the voters who voted for Regan and not stagflation are proles in your book. What an abstract concept and quite counter-intuitive for the progressive mind to comprehend. Coveting is the vise of the lazy, anti-american, and faithless.

So now that reality has been suspended from the muckrakers mind, its not hard to see how he thinks the whole so-called "worst economic crises sense 1929", gets up and running. It was not government implied backing of Fannie/Freddie, it was deregulation. It's not congressional pressure to offer home loans to poor credit people, it was the people on John McCain's campaign bus. Its not that Capitalism's laws were not practiced correctly, its that it is intellectually bankrupt. Ok mr Frank, how did that new deal work out? Oh, It made it worse? You mean that government intervention caused a small rise and then a second more prolonged collapse? How can that be?

Back to the present. If congress passes the bail-out, no doubt all the Washington and New York insiders will be high fiving each other. I plan to stay 100 miles from any David Broder articles. But one can be sure that with every bail out, markets will be distorted and risks will be improperly assigned yet again. How about a true populist stance Mr Frank, NO-BAIL-OUT!! But then of course the commanding heights won't be transferred to Government... i mean government acting for the little guy right? Freedom a zero sum game?