The World Turns

Bill Bonner, uber-contrarian, writes in his daily essay:

Yesterday was a holiday in the US. Little news from that quarter. But
while Americans were enjoying their backyard barbecues, the rest of the world
turned."

Obama plans 'leaner' car industry," says the BBC. While most readers
will focus on the last three words of that sentence, we direct your attention to
the first two. The subject is the important part...not the
predicate. That the car industry may or may not get 'leaner' is of little
interest to us. It will do what it needs to do. But that the
president of the United States of America is now creating the business plan for
an automobile company is surely a sign of something big. The world has already
turned...perhaps more than we realize.

It was only a few months ago...we're almost sure...that a private company
figured out for itself how it would compete. If it was well- managed - and lucky
- it would grow. If it made a serious mistake, it would go out of
business...leaving the premises vacant for another entrepreneur. Americans not
only accepted this model, they applauded it. They thought the "free enterprise"
system was the best in the world. They believed it was responsible for their
wealth...their progress...and their place in the world.

Now, they seem to have come to believe something else: that the president
of the United States - an elected politician - should have a direct say in how
individual private enterprises are organized and run.