The Central Bank
I touched on this subject when I brought up the Federal Reserve's bail out of Bear Stearns, but how does the central bank (i.e. the Federal Reserve) fit into the progressive world view? I know we've talked about human constructs like the "market" and "economy" on here before, but I want to specifically focus on the central bank and what role it should play in government. There is increasingly a split forming between the Republicans and Democrats, where the Dems believe the Feds are not going far enough (they should help ordinary folks out as well, not just financial institutions) and the Republicans believe the Feds have gone too far (the government should not intervene and should let the market bottom out on its own).
To further illustrate this point, here is what Robert Novak had to say about it on Human Events:
"Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's financial bailout plan is getting poor reviews on Capitol Hill, and not only from Democrats, who want more stimulus and more regulation. Republican leaders believe the administration is proposing too much injection of government and not letting the markets find a bottom."
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=25821
PS. By the way, Human Events is a great source for reading up on current conservative thinking. It's got the usual cast of characters all in one place, including Ann Coulter, Pat Buchanan and Newt Gingrich. I recommend it (if you can stomach it)!
