tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096954374118087231.post1556826568711458280..comments2023-10-14T15:15:48.816+02:00Comments on The Utah Hornet's Nest: The Reagan Paradigm Shattered to PiecesObi wan liberalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04425739293622553830noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096954374118087231.post-40839813381931791602009-02-07T14:33:00.000+01:002009-02-07T14:33:00.000+01:00Obi, I am posting a link that you may find interes...Obi, I am posting a link that you may find interesting. Recently, UCLA (no bastion of conservatism)found that government intervention prolonged the Depression by at least 7 years. <BR/> <BR/>http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/FDR-s-Policies-Prolonged-Depression-5409.aspx <BR/><BR/>Now, if you are simply going to blame this entire mess on deregulation than you must be referring to Democrat Presidents. Jimmy Carter signed the CRA and Clinton signed the two enormous deregulation bills, the last one in 2000 that included the "Enron loophole", the other in 1999 opened up Fannie Mae.<BR/><BR/>http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260&scp=2&sq=&st=nyt<BR/><BR/>http://www.stroock.com/SiteFiles/Pub134.pdf<BR/><BR/>Bush did his part by closing his eyes of course but blaming this solely on deregulation and lack of gov't is a little like blaming guns for crime.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096954374118087231.post-89046307680029979912008-11-24T16:28:00.000+01:002008-11-24T16:28:00.000+01:00For the record, I think government has been more e...For the record, I think government has been more effective than many people give it credit for. An interstate highway system, deposit insurance (think how many runs on banks we would have had without it), National Parks, programs regulating our water and air (remember where we were prior), etc., I think government as a set of institutions, both federally and locally rarely get the credit they deserve. <BR/><BR/>The current crisis is not the result of too much government interference, but in lax enforcement of existing regulations and a move by government under the spell of conservative lawmakers to push for de-regulation. <BR/><BR/>Free markets still need rules and regulations. Like a road system without speed limits, stop signs, and enforcement of those laws, society quickly becomes immobilized by one accident after another. <BR/><BR/>Government isn't always the solution. But it often isn't the problem that proponents of free markets usually make it out to be. <BR/><BR/>Carefully crafted laws, rules and regulations make a difference. The question is, how can we make the process in designing those laws and regs transparent and rational. Lobbyists for the interests being regulated have had far too much influence in the process at the expense of the general public. <BR/><BR/>I'm willing to entertain options for how we can make our government work better. But I'm not willing to go with the blanket ideological scapegoating of government as the scapegoat for all our problems. <BR/><BR/>But I do find it interesting that politicians who claim government is the problem, don't seem to have a problem with justifying that assertion through their own incompetent administration of government.Obi wan liberalihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04425739293622553830noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096954374118087231.post-70355314107427869382008-11-23T23:32:00.000+01:002008-11-23T23:32:00.000+01:00A couple of notes:Don't confuse naked self interes...A couple of notes:<BR/><BR/>Don't confuse naked self interest for thoughtful principle. Just because the Big 3 auto makers have mismanaged their businesses for the past 30 years and have come cup in hand to the government, don't think that anyone other than themselves agrees with them. You are putting market economics and the asked for and not yet received bailout in the same group, where they do not belong.<BR/><BR/>The underlying causes, not the symptons of the banking crises were goverment intervention and not the lack of it. The goverment has been juicing the housing market for 40 years with agressive Fed intervention, the creation and mismanagement of Fannie and Freddie, and a host of laws and regulations pushing and encouraging risky behavior. All the while politicians in both parties were more tha happy to take the housing and banking lobbyists' donations. So don't even begin to claim that this is a private market problem the goverment needs to save us from.<BR/><BR/>So yes, it is amazing that in fact some people act in a selfish way and run to the goverment for money. But don't call these people market conservates. And don't pretend the goverment didn't have a huge hand in causing the financial crisis in the first place.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096954374118087231.post-91298040857037577742008-11-22T12:47:00.000+01:002008-11-22T12:47:00.000+01:00Yes Derek...well said. Your faith in government t...Yes Derek...well said. Your faith in government to solve all these problems is inspiring. Maybe you're right...people are just too dumb to feed themselves, pick out what they should be buying, and bank correctly. A bigger government to act as our nanny is the perfect solution to all of those problems. <BR/><BR/>Or maybe we'll be just fine with a basic welfare system as a safety net and a government that gets out of the way and doesn't try to nanny us so much. Not too likely under our upcoming administration but it sure would be nice.Jeremyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15775127589033724985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096954374118087231.post-61901468587094038432008-11-21T22:01:00.000+01:002008-11-21T22:01:00.000+01:00Well said, Derek!Well said, Derek!Bekkieannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13058996951400003081noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096954374118087231.post-8548222534895559592008-11-21T20:18:00.000+01:002008-11-21T20:18:00.000+01:00Yes, Reaganomics are responsible for dynamic growt...Yes, Reaganomics are responsible for dynamic growth and change: change to a food system in which our society is overfed and malnourished; change to hypermaterialism and ever accelerating conspicuous consumption; change to where only the wealthiest individuals can afford catastrophic health care; change to a financial system in which service providers are allowed to bamboozle the public in playing “gotcha” capitalism; change to a society which is financially overextended and in record debt; change to an economy which has become over-corporatized and in which the economy is increasingly dominated by an ever shrinking oligopoly. Great change.<BR/><BR/>We need to get over the free market idolatry and corporatism of the Chicago school and recognize the need for an effectively balance mixed economy.derekstaffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06834500613514245522noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096954374118087231.post-29211490707486587532008-11-21T17:30:00.000+01:002008-11-21T17:30:00.000+01:00Obi wan,You know very well that you are not alone....Obi wan,<BR/><BR/>You know very well that you are not alone. There are conservatives like me who are raising our voices in the wilderness with you decrying the foolish practices in business that you mention here.<BR/><BR/>Unfortunately you have given no argument here that the government would do better. They may have mandated seatbelts and some fuel efficiency standards, but the fact that foreign automakers are thriving <B>in the United States</B> while our big 3 are failing miserably is proof that they are not capable of surviving in a free market any longer.<BR/><BR/>That is not a repudiation of the free market system, it is a repudiation of the current corporate culture and their entitlement complex. It is further proof that the government should not be stepping in to save them from themselves. They need to feel the consequences of their short-sighted stupidity. In fact, we need to feel the consequences of our blind optimism so that we can correct the defects that are becoming ever more pervasive in our society (like taking American dominance for granted).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096954374118087231.post-51947849604230347002008-11-21T15:12:00.000+01:002008-11-21T15:12:00.000+01:00I forgot to sign up for email follow-up comments. ...I forgot to sign up for email follow-up comments. Sorry for this extra pointless note!Jeremyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15775127589033724985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1096954374118087231.post-87286349499344131372008-11-21T15:09:00.000+01:002008-11-21T15:09:00.000+01:00Obi Wan,On what experience or data do you base you...Obi Wan,<BR/><BR/>On what experience or data do you base your faith in governments ability to solve these problems? Government has tried its hand before at a managed economy in our country. Remember Nixon? Remember price and wage controls? Remember stagflation? <BR/><BR/>Reagan's economic policies are responsible for two decades of the most dynamic growth and change our economy has ever seen. There are some failings but overall we are a more prosperous people because of those policies. I'm skeptical of your desires to return to Nixonian economics. <BR/><BR/>Bitch and moan about the auto industry all you want. Our politicians have given us absolutely no reason to trust them in their efforts to take the helm of our economy. <BR/><BR/>By the way...the free market worked. I love my Honda Accord. Let the American automakers go down in flames. They failed for various reasons. Our nation will be flush with the unemployed and they will need to be assimilated. Better this happen now than after another 20 years of government mismanagement.Jeremyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15775127589033724985noreply@blogger.com