Lv99 Slacker said:
There's a significant part of me that is strongly sympathetic to the ideas and sentiments of: "Fuck Georgia. Fuck Isreal. Fuck Afghanistan. Just 'no' to nation building and entangling alliances and trade agreements that compromise our sovereignty." I'd feel that we'd save so much money and American lives if we had this mentality. So, that's where I'm coming from with my partial support of Ron Paul.
Woodrow Wilson would be turning over in his grave. However, I would say the real cause lies with the likes of Kissinger that have tainted US foreign policy with
realpolitik: coercive, agenda-driven policy not within the domain of the country's ideological pursuits of influence, but rather in its self-interest. It's time there was more balanced decision-making, and if not a return to isolationism, rather more conclusions made on long-term effects to international relations and domestic consequences.
Gaborn said:
Bush wasn't regulating, but as long as the money supply is regulated by the fed that's a HUGE ammount of regulation. As long as we see artificial inflation adversely affecting the market there's regulation. As long as we're in the era of corporate welfare and corporate bailouts, there's regulation.
Again: how did the Federal Reserve - by the way, is it independent in the US as well? If not, political constraints (and thus the current administration) are another weakness of the US system - fail America here? Interest rates were too low, leading to a liquidity trap where investment confidence was shaken. De-regulation to the extent where the operation of financial systems were compromised by the crippling effects of self-interest.
I'm all for a competitively-based market economy, but rules are needed to stop people for acting in interests that could possibly bring it all crashing down. I know how 1984-ish that sounds, but the Masters of the Universe you find in these financial institutions look out for number one, and often readily dismiss the long-term effects of their decisions based on immediate profit.
GhaleonEB said:
Both the current crisis and the great depression occurred during periods of relaxed regulation. It was the repealing of the regulations put into place after the great depression that led to this situation.
I understand where economic conservatives are coming from, but why can't they see that a complete free market system simply would not work in the current environment? A true free market system would allow for anything but a smooth transition between the boom-bust structure of the business cycle, and the political and social effects of unstable economic growth and an un-assured standard of living would be outside the tolerance of most people.
Without regulations, situations like the current credit crunch, and the other great liquidity and debt trap uprisings of the 20th century would be normal, not abnormal occurrences. Without regulations, the growth of an oligarchy/monopoly-driven society not unlike the immediate effects seen with the Russian "shock therapy" of the 1990s probably wouldn't be off the cards as a possible scenario.
The Keynesian system, that allows for government intervention in fisical and monetary terms, stabilizes inflation, credit, interest rates and budgetary concerns with the effect of minimizing the impact of the business cycle and maximizing sustainable output, employment and growth in the economy.
Furthermore, don't strike the chains of regulations surrounding credit... demolish those of protectionism! Trade liberalization and micro-economic reform will be the main avenues of economic success in the globalizing era of the 21st century.