Reason for Success of U.S. Economy: “We Let People Fail”

McCain’s chief economic adviser and entrepreneur-expert Hotz-Eakin offered some cogent comments on the trend toward more government bailouts at the taxpayers’ expense:

(p. A6) Mr. Obama is by no means an activist in the Japanese mold, said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, an economic adviser to John McCain’s presidential campaign. But as a whole, policies crafted to address distinct problems in the auto, energy and banking sectors are merging into a broader policy that would pick some winners and losers, preserve entire industries and shape consumer choices.

“We’re backing into industrial policy in an emergency to correct massive market failures,” said Jared Bernstein, an economist at the liberal Economic Policy Institute who has worked with the president-elect’s economic team.
. . .
“The reason the U.S. economy was so successful for so long was not because we did things so well. It was because we let people fail.” Mr. Hotz-Eakin said. “This is dangerous at some very deep level.”

For the full story, see:
JONATHAN WEISMAN. “Wider U.S. Interventions Would Yield Winners, Losers as Industries Realign.” The Wall Street Journal (Thurs., NOVEMBER 20, 2008): A6.
(Note: ellipsis added.)
(Note: the final paragraph was in the print edition, but was deleted from the online version.)

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