A Gigantic Armed Robbery

What we have before us now is a systematic redistribution from the prudent and the responsible to the imprudent and the irresponsible. Did you make your mortgage payments in full when they were due? Were you careful to avoid investing in incomprehensible derivatives whose failure might lead to your bankruptcy? Very good, sir: you are therefore entitled to relinquish substantial amounts of your wealth, either directly through ordinary taxation or indirectly through the "inflation tax" and the diffuse effects of "crowding out" in the loanable-funds market, where the government must soon borrow hundreds of billions of dollars more than expected a few months ago.

We are now faced with a choice of two candidates, both of whom voted for the bailout in the Senate. Indeed, they rushed back from the campaign trail to show their support in order to appeal to the electorate. The government has successfully engineered a citizenry which relies on government instead of themselves and thinks they are entitled to the assets of the remaining productive citizens and of the earnings of future generations.