Dear Congress: Leave us alone!

By Craig R. Smith

Free markets are screaming at the top of their lungs, “Leave us alone. Take your legislation and go home!”

I know politicians are not the smartest people in the world, but one would think by now they would understand that every time the president, secretary of the Treasury and the Fed chairman speak publicly, the stock market violently responds with a large drop.

How many times did I beg the Bush administration to curtail the appearances of Hank Paulson and Bernanke before Congress and the press? Each time the markets heard the nonsensical notion that government can make things better, market value evaporated. Obama would be well served to learn from the Bush experience. Larry Summers fidgeting on camera makes markets nervous.
Tim Giethner dodging questions of potential bank failure leads to added suspicion.

All managed markets, whether they be managed by government allocation, as in communism, or central bank credit creation, under capitalism, will fail. Only free markets work. Truly free markets are only harmed by politicians – not helped. Politicians could screw up a one-piece puzzle, yet they think they can assist a market as complicated as the American economy? Markets know better.

Last Tuesday the Senate passed the most ridiculous response to the current crisis history has ever seen. Filling a bill with pork and long-term increases to permanent welfare programs only make matters worse. The markets were expected to react violently one way or another, and they did not disappoint. What they did do however was send a signal – leave us alone!

Tim Geithner’s unveiling of a very ambiguous plan was not well received. He created more questions than he answered. And given that he miserably failed in his oversight of banks in his Fed region of New York, who can expect him to lead us through the troubled waters he helped create?

Recessions, while unpleasant, are critical to a market where creating money is a necessary evil to stay alive. Recessions allow for price corrections that make the American way of life affordable. Absent recessions, prices would continually increase to a point where no one could afford a home, a gallon of gas or any of the other items we enjoy in our day-to-day lives. Prices would be way beyond our reach.

Recessions are “time outs” in the long-term growth of a healthy economy. If government were to stand to the side and allow prices to resettle to where they will ultimately settle anyway, we would see this recession pass. The more government intervenes, the longer and deeper this recession will become.

Watching the Senate hearings with Timothy Geithner being grilled by politicians who have no clue how to make a free market work was painful. Every comment and politically motivated question cost billions in lost equity in the stock market. I found myself screaming at the TV to stop the hearing. Hasn’t Chris Dodd done enough to hurt average Americans already? He should stop these hearing now!

The day started off with the Dow down 50 points. After hours of testimony, press conferences and staged media interviews the Dow ended 381 points down on the day. Most investors cannot take any more days of government assistance.

If I were to be selfish and only care about myself or my company, I would encourage more of these hearings. One of my companies offers gold to the public. As the Washington “geniuses” kept talked gold increased in value by $25, while stocks decreased. Yet, I love this country, and it breaks my heart to see politicians making matters worse.

Please, please, please Congress. Stop trying to help us. You are killing us. You are burying us in debt. You are promising us things you cannot deliver. You want us to believe but you are making us fearful.

True courage lies in telling people we will need time to work through these problems, and people will have to prepare for some tough times ahead. They will pass, but they are going to happen.

If government really wants to help, it can stop wasting money, reduce the tax burden on the people and reduce the size of its bloated bureaucracy. They can encourage private capital to come back to the market without the fear of being demonized. Capitalism works when it is accompanied with strict enforcement of the laws currently on the books.

No legislation in the world will ever repeal the law of basic mathematics. While Congress would like to think it is a group of miracle workers, it is not. They are men and women who have made some very foolish decisions that have caused much more pain than necessary. There is no magic wand or silver bullet.

Therefore, leave us alone.

Signed,

The free market

 


Craig R. Smith

Craig R. Smith is an author, commentator and popular media guest because he instantly engages audiences with his common-sense analyses of local, national and global trends. Serving as CEO of Swiss America for over 25 years, Craig understands that Americans want solid answers to the tough questions and that real leadership begins with servanthood. Craig's most recent book is "Crashing the Dollar: How to Survive a Global Currency Collapse," which he co-authored with Lowell Ponte. For media interviews please call Bronwin Barilla at 800-950-2428. Read more of Craig R. Smith's articles here.