In principle - Bromby is against it 100% but the repercussions either way are pretty scary.
If we are to learn anything from US history, it's that in these times of economic crisis politicians (typically from the left, but not always) make the argument that the free market is to blame and that stricter regulations are the answer. True conservatives (including Bromby) assert that it is in fact regulation and government intervention that create these monstrosities.
The financial institutions are the ones taking the blame as well as the 'free market'. My opinions on this matter are best expressed in this quote from the brilliant Yaron Brook of the Ayn Rand Centre. (full article)
“Most people believe the Great Depression was caused by an ‘excessively’ free market--and they regard the massive expansion of government intervention under FDR as its cure. But as many economists have demonstrated, it was government intervention that caused and exacerbated the Depression--from the massive tariffs of Smoot-Hawley to a series of disastrous interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve to antibusiness measures such as the National Recovery Act.
“Few acknowledged this at the time, however. The Great Depression--a failure of government intervention--was called a failure of capitalism, and was used to justify even more government intervention. We are seeing this same process repeat itself today.
“There is overwhelming evidence that our current crisis is the result primarily of government intervention in the economy, from the Fed’s inflationary policy of keeping interest rates artificially low to the creation and regulatory coddling of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to the government’s quasi-official policy of bailing out large financial institutions deemed too big to fail. But despite such evidence, this crisis is being blamed on too little government control of markets, and is being used to justify an even greater expansion of the state’s control over financial markets."
I have little doubt that increased restrictive regulation will be prescribed as the cure for this disaster as well, but instead of FDR administering the treatment it could well be the defining moment of Barack Obama's presidency.
- Bromby
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The leaders of a civilized society have an obligation to pass laws that keep idiots from hurting themselves. Why? Because if they don't, the idiots hurt everybody.
That sounded a bit like an argument for oligarchy to me.
Seriously though, I believe the electorate, not just in the USA, but in all Democratic countries, need to be better informed. Unfortunately, there is too much partisanship and far too much ideological zeal in many circles to be objective. I know I cannot make heads or tails of economic realities.
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