This morning on the way to work, I heard an Obama ad which stated (among other economic fallacies) that "banks are failing because of Washington's lax oversight."
The ad's obvious implication is that the government needs to get more involved in the banking system. However, the exact opposite is true because government involvement is exactly what led to today's financial mess. I already commented about that topic last month, and if you want to read a much better analysis of it, go here.
History shows that when something needs fixing, government's role should be reduced, not increased. But interestingly, if we use Obama's chosen word of "oversight," the two players whose corruption actually does warrant oversight are government entities, not private ones. They are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, of course, and their very existence is an example of government involvement in the banking system.
Because Obama is playing word games by using the term "oversight" as a euphemism, this ad falls into the category of slippery shades-of-gray dishonesty. But it is dishonest just the same, and its goal is to frighten the citizenry into making a decision that will benefit the powerful at the citizenry's expense.
The ad's obvious implication is that the government needs to get more involved in the banking system. However, the exact opposite is true because government involvement is exactly what led to today's financial mess. I already commented about that topic last month, and if you want to read a much better analysis of it, go here.
History shows that when something needs fixing, government's role should be reduced, not increased. But interestingly, if we use Obama's chosen word of "oversight," the two players whose corruption actually does warrant oversight are government entities, not private ones. They are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, of course, and their very existence is an example of government involvement in the banking system.
Because Obama is playing word games by using the term "oversight" as a euphemism, this ad falls into the category of slippery shades-of-gray dishonesty. But it is dishonest just the same, and its goal is to frighten the citizenry into making a decision that will benefit the powerful at the citizenry's expense.
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