(A List of Regrets)
Brian Gongol
- If only the big three Detroit automakers had shown any strategic foresight over the last 30 years, then the proposed bailout package wouldn't seem quite so outrageous
- If only the state of Iowa hadn't robbed its own trust funds for the last several years, then the state budget shortfall wouldn't seem quite so painful
- If only the government had been setting aside funds in a dedicated infrastructure-reinvestment fund, then the proposed economic-stimulus package wouldn't seem like a hopeless exercise in Keynesian pump-priming but instead like a careful investment of the taxpayers' money at a time when new infrastructure could be purchased at a relative discount
- If only the commercial banks hadn't been making a fortune off $3,000 per-capita credit-card debt, then the bank recapitalization plan wouldn't seem like quite such a waste
- If only we hadn't given so much money away that now sits in foreign sovereign-wealth funds, it wouldn't seem so bad that Americans are now irrationally afraid of domestic stocks