Sunday, July 13, 2008
Milton Friedman is Gone, Where Are His Disciples ?
"Regulation", the Taboo Word for Supply-siders Raised Its Head
What happened to the champions of free market economy? They are strangely silent about recent statements from Fed Chairman Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Paulson that some regulation -- need to monitor actions by Wall Street-- was called for.
Sacrilegious, un-American. How dare they malign the sacred cow! A year ago Bernanke and Paulson would have either kept their mouths shut or probably have been canned for speaking out. Now, during the sunset of the Bush administration and plunging stock prices due to the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage industry, the people who permitted wrongdoings in the financial markets no longer have the power to continue their support of corporate malfeasance.
Don't write them off though. They are waiting in the wings, praying for John McCain to win the presidential election. McCain has promised to balance the budget by 2013, but did not say how he was going to do it. It is a 'pie in the sky' kind of thing. McCain's empty rhetoric notwithstanding, the free-marketers will again have their place in the sun if he becomes president. Not much is expected to happen between now and November. In the unlikely event that Bernanke and Paulson follow through in introducing some measures with teeth to curb the unethical Wall Streeters, McCain and the Republicans will do all they can to scrap them.
And what will his administration do if Barack Obama wins the White House? Hard to predict. Judging by his recent actions, we are going to be disappointed if we hope to see major changes. But even minor changes to stop the country from going down the road that Bush built would be good for us.
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Don't write them off though. They are waiting in the wings, praying for John McCain to win the presidential election. McCain has promised to balance the budget by 2013, but did not say how he was going to do it. It is a 'pie in the sky' kind of thing. McCain's empty rhetoric notwithstanding, the free-marketers will again have their place in the sun if he becomes president. Not much is expected to happen between now and November. In the unlikely event that Bernanke and Paulson follow through in introducing some measures with teeth to curb the unethical Wall Streeters, McCain and the Republicans will do all they can to scrap them.
And what will his administration do if Barack Obama wins the White House? Hard to predict. Judging by his recent actions, we are going to be disappointed if we hope to see major changes. But even minor changes to stop the country from going down the road that Bush built would be good for us.
Comments:
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Not only where are they, but who are they? Where are the prominent Chicago School economists that are going to speak out against Barack Obama's economic policies? Either they've been strangely silent or they've just been shut out by the mainstream media.
# posted by 
: 3:53 AM
: 3:53 AM
msgnet: Not quite sure what your position is.
My post was critical of the supply siders. They have done a lot of damage. My concern is that Obama's
team of economists is not going to move far away from the established policies. The changes would be mostly cosmetic. Too bad.
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My post was critical of the supply siders. They have done a lot of damage. My concern is that Obama's
team of economists is not going to move far away from the established policies. The changes would be mostly cosmetic. Too bad.
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