Man oh man, if there ever was a prime example of a revelation of the greatest flaw in libertarian economic theory, it had to be Alan Greenspan's speech.  For those not in the know, the former Federal Reserve Chairman spoke before a Congressional committee yesterday.  Long one of the grand proponents of laissez fair capitalism, his decisions, ironically, probably has lead to the complete discrediting of such economics. 

"Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholder's equity (myself especially) are in a state of shocked disbelief," said Greenspan, who stepped down from the Fed in 2006.

- excerpt from Greenspan: I was Partially Wrong on Credit Crisis, CNBC.com, 2008.

Greetings, and welcome to new edition of Manufacturing Tuesday.  Normally there is a Manufacturing Monday, but sometimes we just can't get the edition out on time.  Still, the show must go on, as they say.

Now if manufacturing were a show, this would probably be either a Greek tragedy or a horror.  Because, folks, things aren't looking that great.  Some economic numbers out late last week point to industrial activity slowing down or stalling.  The current credit crisis is causing delays in payments.  Smaller industrial enterprises are suffering the most with their credit lines  cut down or completely frozen. 

By the numbers

CNBC's Charlie Gasparino is now reporting that McCain is saying the deal is "dead" in it's current form.  This marks another flipflop from the senator, who just the other day says some sort of bailout was needed.  This also comes in light of the Democrats in both houses coming to an agreement as to what they want.  Indeed, even 40 out of 49 Republicans said they would go along. McCain had met with Republican leaders.  He or his handlers have been in constant contact with the White House, particularly Paulson.  So I'll tell you, if this is true, it's a shocker.

I'll be honest, I never wanted to write up a diary piece like this. A week ago, like many of you, my feelings on "bailing out" Wall Street was equally negative. Why? Why in the name of all that is decent should we clear up the bad judgment of folks who really do not care about the common folk?

For years, folks who would be identified as the type who would get the jobs of running organizations like Goldman Sachs or Lehman Brothers, were considered "Masters of the Universe." For them, we, you and I, were the dirty lowers against their kind. We existed to supplement their income. But now the veil has been lifted, and we see now that they are not masters of anything but their own greed and stupidity.