Kewp wrote:
“I used to be a big free-market wonk, but the current mess we are in is exclusively due to the ‘invisible hand’ grabbing as much as it can for itself. Damn the consequences.”
One thing that always gets over looked is what happens when you transition from a heavy hand of government to a free market. As you relax the rules and regulations, there are always those that take advantage or forget the consequences that the market will slap them with. We saw this in the deregulation of electricity big time. Now we are seeing what happens when you deregulate mortgages, and allow unregulated products like default swaps to proliferate.
Yes, the free market will work, but their is always a rough spot as you transition from a regulated environment to a non-regulated environment. The players need to learn the new/changed rules, and there are usually painful lessons involved in learning new rules.
The unfortunate aspect is that most people don’t understand the costs of these transitions, and that means most people are going to be supporting a return to more government regulation in these areas. Which is exactly what Hilary is counting on. And for what it’s worth, I have the sneaking suspicion that this talk is gonna make her more popular with the average voter.
