The Feds Change the Plan

Well, well, well, that plan was short lived.

Two weeks after persuading Congress to let it spend $700 billion to buy distressed mortgage-backed securities, the Bush administration has put its original idea on the back burner and is trying to come up with a new plan over the next several days.

The new approach, which would have the government inject capital directly into the nation's banks, is one that administration officials had publicly opposed until just a few days ago.

Clueless doesn't begin to describe the clowns that can't seem to get it out of their heads that governments don't possess magical powers. Aided and abetted by pundits across the political spectrum, they still think the Administration can do something the free market can't.

It's impossible to tell when, or if, they will give it up. Following Bush's Herbert Hoover act, Barack Obama has already promised a whole slew of FDR-style fixes. Some of us know how that turned out.

Frankly, I'd rather the American people not have to learn that lesson anew. The Feds seem determined to see that they do.