The Indianapolis of our economy...

I heard on the radio today that, due to the aging baby boomers, severe cuts must be made in social programs as they retire to ensure the fiscal continuity of the country. There simply wont be enough people working for their tax dollars to support the baby boomers in the manner of social programs which the prior generations have enjoyed.

The issue I have with the recent outcry by fiscal conservatives that we are turning away from capitalism towards socialism is that this isn't a matter of the ship suddenly hitting an iceberg and sinking. The ship has been taking on water for decades. It began to list to starboard before I was born to such a degree that people no longer recognized level.

What we see now is the worst banking crisis in living memory. Liquidity is the fluid that lubricates capitalism. Without it capitalism grinds to a halt. I think we are seeing the ship capsize at last and take on water faster than ever before. The question is, how do we make the banks lend when there are no promises that the recipient company will be solvent tomorrow?

Add these things together and we get a frightened constituency. Frightened and growing ever hungry. Frightened, hungry, and getting more and more wet as the ship begins to sink beneath the waves.

It is this fear, coupled with memory of horror stories heard at grandpa's knee that has caused the recent legislation of which fiscal conservatives decry.

Is there an easy fix? No. Are we going down the wrong path? Likely. Is it a change in sentimentality and love of capitalism? No.

We are treading water and grasping at whatever preserver we can reach before the sharks come. Huddle together friends. The sharks feed on those on the outside...