What's Behind the Meltdown

The stock markets continue to plummet in unnerving fashion. The blame for it is centering on the "bailout" package -- was it too little too late, was it too much, was the passage of it a dispiriting display of bad leadership. I think it goes deeper than that. The bailout was never meant to solve the problem, only to stave off something worse. But what it most of all did was spark the fear of ever-more government takeover of the private sector, which combined with polls indicating Democratic victory in both Congress and the Presidency in November, has spooked the investor class to get out while the getting's good. Let's face it: if the Democrats win in November, this bailout package is going to look like libertarianism compared to the stuff they're going to pull to "solve the crisis."