Thomas Sowell:

Barack Obama says that we have to "jolt" the economy. That certainly makes sense, if you take the media's account of the economy seriously-- but should the media be taken seriously?

Amid all the political and media hysteria, national output has declined by less than one-half of one percent. In fact, it may not have declined even that much-- or at all-- when the statistics are revised later, as they very often are.

We are not talking about the Great Depression, when output dropped by one-third and unemployment soared to 25 percent.

What we are talking about is a golden political opportunity for politicians to use the current financial crisis to fundamentally change an economy that has been successful for more than two centuries, so that politicians can henceforth micro-manage all sorts of businesses and play Robin Hood, taking from those who are not likely to vote for them and transferring part of their earnings to those who will vote for them.

I don't know whether this is good news or bad news. On the one hand, I would be happy to believe that things aren't as bad as we think. On the other hand, more government intrusion into our lives isn't welcome news. But since that was inevitable with Obama and the Democratic congress, I guess what I need to do is figure out how to get in the bailout line.

I hope I live long enough to see how historians treat this era. I think they will be kinder to George Bush than we now imagine. As for Obama, he has yet to do anything; time will tell.