George W Bush and the Free Market

For such a supporter of free market capitalism, it was funny to see Bush say the following:

"I've abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system."

Response from Andrew Sullivan:

" . . . Just as he used torture to defend freedom. And occupied a country in order to liberate it."

Over the next few weeks up to the inauguration, I am going to do the best I can to look at the Bush legacy. I won't promise something everyday, but it is important to look at what our country has gone through, and what it looks like today after eight years of his presidency.

Ohio School District requests $100 Million Dollar Bailout

I love this! Now granted, TARP is "meant to stabilize financial institutions", and $100 million is a little more than they should be asking for (especially for a school district of only 3,800 students). However, I think there is an excellent point here. If we can give all of this money to companies who are about to go bankrupt (completely their own fault, by the way), then why can't we give more money to public schools?

Just How Big Is The Economic Bailout?

Bigger than all of these combined:

• Marshall Plan: Cost: $12.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $115.3 billion
• Louisiana Purchase: Cost: $15 million, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $217 billion
• Race to the Moon: Cost: $36.4 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $237 billion
• S&L Crisis: Cost: $153 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $256 billion
• Korean War: Cost: $54 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $454 billion
• The New Deal: Cost: $32 billion (Est), Inflation Adjusted Cost: $500 billion (Est)
• Invasion of Iraq: Cost: $551b, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $597 billion
• Vietnam War: Cost: $111 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $698 billion
• NASA: Cost: $416.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $851.2 billion

I am no opponent of big government, but really, fiscal conservatism has to play a role at some point.