Can the Feds Uncrunch Credit? by Nicole Gelinas, City Journal Winter 2009

This is an excellent primer on understanding the so-called credit crunch, its cause and currently proposed cures.

I plowed though it, and one thing kept bubbling up: The general pessimism of the author as to whether, over the medium-to-long term, this massive increase in state control and (attempted) manipulation of the economy can cure its ills.

See, it still hasn’t crossed the minds of our elites, in government, in finance, and in the media, that there is a real possibility it could all fall apart, and that the American economy could simply collapse.

Such stuff has been the fodder of feverish thriller novels and conspiracy-minded movies, (as well as disgruntled fiscal conservatives) not the consideration of those who actually purport to lead these segments of our nation.

“I never imagined,” opined former Fed Chairman (and former financial hero) Alan Greenspan, “that the big banks would be so reckless as to their evaluation of their lending risks.”

“Who could have imagined,” cried many, “that somebody would fly a jetliner into a skyscraper or a great government building?”

But of course the unimaginable happened, and I find myself worrying more and more not about the dangers our leaders currently imagine, but the ones they don’t imagine.

“Trust, but verify,” said Ronald Reagan. “Hope, and change,” Barack Obama’s team responds.

I will hope, and try to trust. But I’ll also stock up on the sort of things I might need to get me and mine through some very hard times.

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