How Much Government Involvement Is Good?

Is the current crisis on Wall Street and in American homes an over reaction? A few sub-prime mortgages are going under, and we are to believe the fed should step in and drop rates? I don’t know how bad it really is, but judging from the way the news reports it, we should just all did a hole and live underground for a few years until it blows over ! Here are a few background stories to keep you busy reading.

Federal Reserve should resist tinkering -
Worldnews.com - By George Selgin Fri Aug 31, 4:00 AM ET Athens , GA. - When the Federal Reserve slashed its discount rate by a half-percentage point earlier this month, it was trying to add a little lubricant to a credit market that seemed on the verge of seizing up

Fed chief’s challenge is to win rates accord
Financial Times - Ben Bernanke faces a challenging task in coming weeks to build a consensus within the Federal Reserve as to how it should respond to financial market turmoil at its September 18 policy meeting. The 19 members of the interest rate-setting Federal Open

Bush, Bernanke launch twin subprime assault
Worldnews.com - NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve on Friday reassured investors it would take any steps needed to shelter the U.S. economy from a global credit squeeze, while President George W. Bush promised to help struggling homeowners refinance

Glad that August is over? Not so fast
Los Angeles Times - Stock investors’ moods have improved in the last two weeks, bolstered in part by the Federal Reserve’s efforts to pump money into the banking system and by the growing belief that the Fed will begin trimming its key short-term interest rate, now 5.25

Tokyo shares close lower ahead of US data - UPDATE
CNN Money - not sell them today but the market lacked direction,’said Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Management. ‘Investors were reluctant to take large positions amid expectations of an interest rate cut in the US,’ he said. The Federal Reserve