The following is an editorial by ABC News' John Stossel, found on Townhall.com. John is, as usual, insightful, eloquent and generally on the money.
Please, read on.
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
The bailout passed!
Too bad.
When so many politicians speak with one voice in support of the biggest act of government intervention in the economy in generations, I cringe.
Everybody talked about the "freeze" in the credit markets, but why, I wonder, were the cable news programs that repeated the credit-freeze mantra pausing for commercials from companies trying to lend me money? Ditech and LendingTree still hawk mortgages at under 6 percent. Some credit freeze.
Economist Robert Higgs of the Independent Institute looked at the credit numbers kept by the Federal Reserve. He writes: "Although certain financial institutions are undeniably in deep trouble -- difficulties of their own making ... -- credit markets in general have not ceased to operate. Moreover, lenders are extending credit in historically great amounts".
Maybe this is why CNN business reporter Ali Velshi broke ranks when reporting on "dried up" credit and said, "When I say 'dried up,' I don't mean there's no money. But you'd better have good collateral and good credit."
What's wrong with that?
