Everything is Temporary

In recent months, the government has "bailed out" a number of large financial institutions, such as AIG, who were "too big to fail". In spite of the great cost (and risk), I think the government made the only rational choice.

However, now that we have averted (at least temporarily) the imminent meltdown of the US economy, I think we should re-visit the idea of a company that is "too big to fail". It is ludicrous that the US, or any other nation, should be so dependent on any corporation of set of corporations. Companies such as AIG, GM, etc. should be broken up into small competitive companies that can survive in a global market place. As an added benefit, the failure of any one of these companies would not result in an imminent financial disaster.

Everything is temporary. Pax Romana ended. The British Empire crumbled away. America's time as the global supoer-power will one day come to an end. Rather than deny this fact we should prepare ourselves and the structure of our economy on the assumption that someday we may be #2. I do think it is entirely rational for the US to take effort to preseve it's position of global power, but preparing for a future where we may not be a lone super-power only seems prudent. I believe an important aspect of this preparation is to make sure the economy is adequately diversified to survive global competition in a world where we do not necessarily dictate the terms of the marketplace.