Martin Feldstein Suggests Spain Should Force Citizens and Companies to Buy Government Debt

My Take:  Martin Feldstein’s article in the FT from a couple of days ago is so frightening I feel compelled to turn everyone’s attention to it if they have not read it yet.  The focus of the piece is Spain and he spends much of it talking about how “confidence” is the key (one of the 10 Commandments of the Keynesian religion).  While that is to be expected, he then goes on to state that the Spanish government should consider forcing its citizens and corporations to buy sovereign debt.  Here are the key paragraphs:

The Spanish government could use the income tax system to levy a temporary “lending surcharge” on individual incomes. In exchange for those surcharge payments, the households would receive an interest-bearing government bond with a maturity of five to 10 years. A similar surcharge could be levied on businesses based on corporate profits or the businesses’ value added.

If that doesn’t scare you I don’t know what will.  So let me get this straight.  Banks and governments took on massive debt and leverage.  Then they blow up the entire global financial system. Then the Central Banks bail them both out.  Washington D.C. is now the wealthiest area in America yet they produce nothing and take everything.  Now what is this genius’ solution to it all?  Force the citizenry and companies “based on corporate profits” to fund the government, which of course is just another backdoor bankster bailout.  This is plain and simple financial serfdom, brought to you by a Professor of Economics at Harvard (supposedly one of the best educations in America) and an adviser to Reagan (sounds more like he advised Stalin).  Just remember your money is not your money according to these guys…

The full article is here although you may not be able to read it without a subscription.  It’s titled “Time for householders to buy bonds and save Spain” from April 30, 2012 if you want to try to find it another way.

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