I received an email from one of my esteemed U.S. Senators the other day, Mark Udall. Mr. Udall’s email urged me to sign a petition telling credit card companies to “stop taking advantage of their customers.” In other words, to stop jacking up their rates in response to a credit card “reform” bill President Obama signed, which Udall co-sponsored.
I’m not a big fan of credit card companies, the bait-and-switch tactics they employ and the usurious rates they often charge, but I’m also a firm believer in caveat emptor. Apparently, our left-wing politicians are not very familiar with this versatile Latin phrase.
The progressive politician’s answer to everything is more government. Then, when government causes the inevitable litany of unintended consequences (rising credit card rates in this case), the government is “forced” to come back in and fix what it broke in the first place. Then, the “fix” is worse than the first one and I get to pay for it. Thanks a lot!
I sure wish this logic worked for me, like the time I hit a patch of ice and spun into the back of another car. I had a beauty of a dent in the passenger-side door. In progressive la-la land I could have magically fixed that dent by backing up and hitting that car again instead of taking it to a repair shop (I foolishly took it to a repair shop). Unfortunately, I’ve tried this approach before, usually with golf clubs, and it actually doesn’t work.
Progressives approach public policy as if they were Fonzie; you know, the lovable character from Happy Days who could make anything work just by slamming his fist on it, usually the juke box at Mel’s Diner. Unfortunately, Arthur Fonzarelli was a fictional character on a sitcom made in the ’70s and set in the ’50s. Fonzie’s magic touch does not translate to the real world, especially to government.
When progressives take the Fonzie approach, the hapless citizen gets saddled with a second-rate spin-off, like Joanie Loves Chachi.
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