John Williams wrote: > Doug Pensinger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >> As it is, it would seem from recent events, with private industry. >> > > When the government interferes, definitely. > Hmmm...Let's look at the record. In 1933 passim regulations were enacted to prevent the problems that started the Great Depression. These regulations prevented any serious problem from recurring for 50 years. Then in late 1970s the deregulation rage began, and the regulations that had kept banking safe for those 50 years were removed. It took a few years, but the first major banking problem, the S&L crisis, happened as a result. Not to be outdone, the Republicans decided to repeat the experiment with the repeal of the stock market regulations like Glass-Steagall. With a few years lag to let the good stuff happen, we then had the worst financial collapse since the Great Depression. It looks to me like a lack of government interference can cause serious damage to financial markets. But don't take my word for it. Consult Ayn Rand's chief disciple, Alan Greenspan, who recently admitted that his libertarian theories did not work out nearly as well in the real world as they had in his theories.
A few centuries back, the state of the art in medicine thought that the way to cure people was to bleed them. Then a few people noticed that this didn't seem to actually, well, not to put too fine a point on it, cure many people. The response by the medical experts was that obviously those people had not been bled enough! There is something similar in the view that the problem in financial markets is that we didn't remove *enough* of the regulations. The only saving grace is that the people who promote this view tend to be equally mistaken in their political strategies. I note that the far right of the Republican party is now promoting the idea that McCain is losing because he is not conservative enough, and that if the Republicans would just be more ideologically rigid they would triumph again! I encourage this thinking in Republicans since nothing would more ensure their complete marginalization in the political life of this country. Regards, -- Kevin B. O'Brien TANSTAAFL [EMAIL PROTECTED] Linux User #333216 "I think it's about time we voted for senators with breasts. After all, we've been voting for boobs long enough." -- Claire Sargent _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
