Martin Wolf: Wall Street and Main Street are streets that meet


Financial Times columnist Martin Wolf inquires, do Americans understand their financial and economic system?

Anger at Wall Street's - - and regulators' - - lapses is justified, but at the end of the day to oppose the rescue package is at once self-defeating, contradictory, self-punitive, and borders on nihilism, Wolf states. Take your pick regarding which is the most damaging.

Congressional representatives, particularly conservative Republicans, but also others, opposed the flawed rescue plan as a bailout for the rich, and as a statement against 'socialism.' Socialism? Yes, the plan is flawed, Wolf states, but the ruin that will result from rejecting the plan will destroy the legitimacy not of socialism, but of the market economy. Exactly what are the packages' opponents fighting?

The Congressmen/women also say that they are 'taking a stand for Main Street and against Wall Street.' A contradiction, Wolf writes. Wolf: Wall Street and Main Street are streets that meet. That is what streets do.

Then there is the future. What is the opponents' alternative? The loudest voice here appears to be 'let the market sort things out by itself,' under the assumption that the damage, costs, and negative consequences really won't be that bad. Wolf: This is not prudent, if the early 20th century's experiences are a guide.


Wolf's recommendation: Act. The U.S Congress should pass the rescue package. Economies are coping with the bursting of the housing and credit bubbles, and fear. The bubbles must be addressed. Equally important, confidence must be restored, for a market economy to function.

Economic Analysis: Sometimes the best analysis of the U.S. economic system originates outside the U.S. Wolf is on the mark: the rescue package must be passed. Some Congressional opponents argue that their constituents won't be hurt by the damage that would result from letting the market sort things out by itself: no research yours truly has reviewed indicates that would be the case.

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