If Government doesn’t scare you, take a hard look at “Quasi Government”
There are many structures once created to serve the citizenry of the United States that have since been hijacked and subverted. Some of these structures now partner with large global enterprises and movements to mandate policy through the purchase of political influence on both sides of the aisle. What is truly criminal is that a number of these agencies get huge tax breaks and or benefits to lobby congressional officials. They are provided huge advantages in the market where they compete, often putting private businesses at a disadvantage or out of business. What do they do with the tax breaks? They use their “nonprofit” status to lobby congress so their reach can expand and grow. This cycle is a closed loop that serves Washington DC, large corporate interests, and global interests, not the American taxpayer.
We have seen economic crisis after crisis take place in this country without addressing the problem that Government Sponsored Enterprises represent. A examples below are listed below:
- Farm Credit (1933): This organization was born from Woodrow Wilson’s (remember him) Federal Farm Loan Act of 1923, but didn’t get real legs until the great depression. In 1933, The Farm Credit Act was passed to assist farmers during the Great Depression. It had a purpose then, even a noble and noteworthy purpose, that could be defended. By the 1980’s, The Farm Credit System had exceeded their mandate and was helping to fuel the farm crisis of the 80’s. It was “reorganized in 1988” and at the time, represented the largest taxpayer bail out in US history.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: Once again, created with a noble purpose out of the Great Depression, Fannie Mae was charted in 1938 in order to “provide liquidity, stability, and affordability, to the mortgage market.” Fast forward to 2010, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were at the epicenter of the Subprime Mortgage Crisis that almost sank the entire United States economy. The political message, “everyone should own a home,” resounded loudly in both Republican and Democratic campaigns, however, the reality of this policy put bankrupted families, destroyed careers, business and after it was over drained trillions of dollars of value from the American housing market.
While I applaud the obvious need to dismantle institutions that work to undermine the very principals they claim to champion (such as the Department of Education), I feel that more attention is needed in addressing the health of our economy. We are headed for Armageddon if we do not.
Returning these large Government Sponsored Enterprises back to their mandate or dismantling them all together would be a great step to empowering the US economy through the empowerment of private business, reducing the influence Washington DC (and by proxy, Global Interests) have on the American people.