If Only We Had Had Government Bureaucrats Running the Financial System

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- Control Freaks:

"with all these plans to exert ever more control over the economy, few people are asking the appropriate question: Do those in government have the knowledge and ability to run our economy?

The answer, put bluntly, is no. This could be seen in Postmaster General John Potter's trip to Congress Wednesday, begging for more money for the ailing postal service. 'We are facing losses of historic proportion,' he said. 'Our situation is critical.'

This from the head of a government-run company that has a virtual monopoly in its business — the delivery of first-class mail — and still can't make a profit. Losses last year totaled $2.8 billion.

Two other major government enterprises — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — were largely responsible for the mess we're in now. Managed mostly by former Democratic politicians, they too had a virtual monopoly, holding $5.4 trillion of the total $12 trillion in U.S. mortgages, and still went bust."