The Myth of Free Markets: Fundamentalists Exposed
January 23rd, 2008I like this piece from Naked Capitalism.com. It talks about the issue of moral hazard and the interventionist policies of all the so called “capitalist” supporters like Reagan. History shows us that far from allowing markets to be free successive governments and central bank authorities have constantly intervened to keep the ship afloat, quite often to feather the nests of others.
As Jamesy commented in the previous post, the LTCM collapse was a good example. The rescue of LTCM was a huge earner to the banks that participated over the carcass and being there at the time I can confirm the glee that surrounded this bail out.
Free markets might actually be good if they were free, just like free trade and anything else with free attached to it. Control is everywhere and freedom is a myth. Just ask people servicing mortgages, caught in the grip of death.
Tags: credit crunch, financial crisis
January 24th, 2008 at 10:04 am
The blatant hypocracy of the so-called “conservatives” has been perfectly illustrated by the book, The Conservative Nanny State, from the economist Dean Barker.
Particularly the chapter, The Workers Are Getting Uppity, Call in the Feds, which relate very well to the topic at hand.
http://books.google.com/books?id=i_jyKcVbCw0C&pg=PA29&lpg=PA29&dq=workers+uppity+call+the+Fed&source=web&ots=LQ7vu1bAml&sig=JMxZamK9rxiEpvnoaJPh5QDWU4k#PPA29,M1