Government Is Always the Answer, Even if Government Was the Problem

06-26-2014 • http://www.fee.org, by LAWRENCE W. REED

Its housing agencies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, played the roles of Bonnie and Clyde. Congress and the White House drove the getaway car (by endlessly pushing laws and rules to foist bad loans on the country in the name of home ownership) and the Federal Reserve filled the gas tank with cheap money.

Of course, the government learned its lesson and won't do that sort of thing again, right? Hardly. It's been doubling down since 2008—bailing out bad guys and pumping out the fuel that's kept interest rates at rock bottom.

Don't expect Washington to fix the fundamentals when its time horizon ends with the next election. In the perverse world of politics, problems don't get solved as much as they get perpetuated. If you play it right, that's how you keep your job. Look busy, talk tough, demagogue the issue, score rhetorical points, but don't fix anything.

And remember: Government is always the answer, even if government was the problem in the first place.