PANIC PASSES:

The market's harsh verdict on Obamanomics: The Dow is sinking and Obama's budget is a disaster. But despite dire trends, free markets will prevail. (Mark Skousen, March 4, 2009, CS Monitor)

What's the future for Obamanomics? The stock market's reaction doesn't bode well. The Dow has fallen 18 percent since the last trading day of Bush's term. Clearly, Wall Street thinks that Obama's tax, spend, and regulate policies will be a disaster.

Despite the dire headlines, the world is not coming to an end, we are not headed into another Great Depression, and free-market capitalism has not breathed its last breath.

In my book, "The Big Three in Economics," I found that the press has frequently and prematurely written the obituary of Adam Smith and his free-market philosophy, only to see a new and more vibrant global marketplace reemerge after being savagely attacked by Keynesians, Marxists, and assorted socialists. Market capitalism survived and prospered after the boom-bust industrial revolution of the 19th century, and the Great Depression and world wars of the 20th century. It will recover from the financial panic of 2008-09 and Obamanomics.