GM and Chysler Bankruptcies

[kandrathe]

If you don't trust the government to do anything, then obviously, you don't trust the government to do this. Using governments to solve problems directly is not costless, but I'm pretty sure it's nowhere near as extreme as you make it out to be. But, then, if we agreed on that, we'd agree on everything, or at least a lot more than we do.

I just think difficult and complicated problems lend themselves to a politically expedient solution that panders to an electorate too ignorant or lazy to dig into and understand. Their opinions are bought with infomercials, and appearances on David Letterman. Or, they are loyalists who don't agree with the majority of the candidates positions, but still vote for the representative from their party. Or, such as we see with Pres. Obama, as he uses triangulation to keep the far left, the middle and the right off balance. Swat a fly? My god, he could strangle a kitten on the 6 o'clock news and still have a higher approval rating than Bush ever did. He wouldn't have to fulfill a single one of his campaign promises and depending on his challenger, he might still win re-election. So, no, I think politicians do the minimum that is necessary to keep themselves in office. Once you get to agencies of the federal government, well, its a crap shoot really. Some are bureaucratic and entrenched where a seemingly simple task in the *real* world takes them 10 times longer, and some through necessity or chance good leadership have become streamlined and efficient. All in all, the private sector does it cheaper, faster, and with higher quality. That is why, wherever possible, the government should always try to privatize everything that the is not directly in their Constitutional mandate. So, for me, where government is concerned, smaller is better. Aim small, miss small.

The countries experiencing food riots have between 1/3 (Mexico) and 1/40th (Haiti) of your per capita GDP. I think you'll be fine, although some government support for keeping food banks stocked would not go amiss for the poorest, given that demand is up and charity is down.

I wasn't thinking of the US, actually, but really the third world somewhat in the proximity of our southern border. There are places in the US, that are actually more like Mexico than like the US.

Globally, food prices are a serious problem, and have been since well before the 2008 crisis. I'm not quite sure what to do about that, but ending biofuel subsidies in the first world seems to be step one. I think we can agree on that one, at least.

Yes, we agree on this.