Wednesday, November 26, 2008

A pessimistic thought from a usually optimistic person...

Could capitalism be doomed due to our inpatience with market failures?

Can we not accept failure?

Maybe some action was warranted for the sake of the credit market, but the bailouts of individual banks and companies is totally bogus. Some businesses fail. When the new Mexican resteraunt in your neighborhood goes out of business after a few months, we don't exactly pass the hat to take care of the unemployeed cooks, busboys, and waiters. The local government doesn't seek to subsidize them. But Whitney, you say, we're talking established firms with hundreds if not thousands of employees. Fine, suppose the Mexican resteraunt wasn't just a resteraunt but a chain of resteraunts in your hometown. They employ and feed a decent proportion of your town's population, but management has made some poor decisions and they are about to go under. We still don't pass the hat or lobby our localities to subsidize a failing business. And it's not the end of the world.

So why are we so hellbent on avoiding a recession? Whoops, we're already there. Why are we so hellbent on getting out of this recession so damn fast? It's called a business cycle for a reason.

Some meditative food for thought...
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under the sun. A
time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up that
which is planted; a time to kill and a time to heal ...a time to weep and a time
to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance ...a time to embrace and a time to
refrain from embracing;a time to lose and a time to seek; a time to rend and a
time to sew; a time to keep silent and a time to speak;a time to love and a time
to hate; a time for war and a time for peace.

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