The Free Market's Fair-weather Friends

by Paul Jacob

We have more to fear from a crisis than the crisis itself. What are the politicians going to do with it? Regarding economic policy, the answer is...

In a crisis, if a major company fails, the government bails it out.

But if a big company keeps making profits, then the company's managers get hauled before Congress and politicians make threatening noises.

Can rewarding failure and persecuting success make for anything but disaster down the road? No.

But that's not stopping Congress.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert stated last month that any oil company that "price gouges" will "be prosecuted." Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist went on record with a sillier statement yet, saying "those who abuse the free enterprise system to advantage themselves and their businesses at the expense of all Americans, they ought to be exposed..."

But wait: In markets

a. we sell things for our advantage; and

b. others buy them at their expense.

So why carp? Both parties gain. Consumers wouldn't buy if they didn't gain something better for each transaction. That's free enterprise.

Frist is suggesting that success in market activity should only be tolerated in good times, not in war, not after hurricanes, not when new consumers like the Chinese bid up prices.

But we need markets unhampered in bad times as well as the good. What we don't need? Fair-weather friends, bad-weather enemies like Frist and Hastert.

This is Common Sense. I'm Paul Jacob.

Common Sense is published by Americans for Limited Government. Their website can be visited at www.limitedgov.org.