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Robber barons? Meet robber TARP.
The federal government's TARP program was a cover for a massive income transfer from the productive to the unproductive classes in society.
John D. Rockefeller (shown here in 1930) became the world's richest man by creating value from oil resources. Today's TARP diverts resources and talent from creating value.
AP/File
Bring back the Robber Barons. That is the title of yesterday’s “Wonderland” column by Daniel Henninger in the Wall Street Journal.
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A blog of the NYU Colloquium on Market Institutions and Economic Processes: A Modern Perspective on Liberty and Public Issues.
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Henninger distinguishes between market entrepreneurs and political entrepreneurs. Market entrepreneurs innovate and create new products. Political entrepreneurs make money by gaming the political system. “We need vision, vitality and commercial moxie. The government is draining it away.”
Bravo!
The real cost of TARP and stimulus is the diversion of resources and talent from creating value into transferring money from one pocket to another.
The stimulus bill was a cover for a massive income transfer from the productive to the unproductive classes in society.
TARP transferred money from profitable firms and hardworking Americans to profligate bankers.
Market entrepreneurs create products that generate the revenue needed to reproduce themselves and then grow.
The political variety creates dependency and the need for new tax revenues to sustain unproductive activities. Markets create wealth and governments transfer it for a fee.
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