BRYAN CAPLAN
May 7, 2013
Keynesian Bets: What's Out There
May 6, 2013
Keynesian Bets Bleg
May 6, 2013
The Pyramid of Macroeconomic Insight and Virtue
May 2, 2013
A Natalist Provision
May 1, 2013
I Was a Teenage Misanthrope
DAVID HENDERSON
May 5, 2013
John Thacker on Vaccinations and the Sequester
May 3, 2013
Chef Rudy's Virtues Project
May 2, 2013
My take on Reinhart and Rogoff
May 1, 2013
Medicare Kills a Program
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I thought Bruce Bartlett had been medicated up the gazoo and put on a fishing boat off the coast of Florida.
What did I miss?
Popular sentiment is becoming scared at the excesses expressed by Corporate management. Absolutely Free Market forces in operation insist the most ruthless make the most money, but economically excluding the majority. The answer, though, lies not in re-regulation; which did not operate effectively in the initial phase, and would work even worse now.
I have continually contended the only arena where Government could economically function well, was in Infrastructure construction and Taxation. They fail in the provision of Social services, Defense, Regulation, and even Law Enforcement.
The answer is institution of effective Tax policy, with elimination of excessive Government spending. lgl
In retreat from where? What strong positions did libertarianism hold that it is losing?
The fact is that neither major party is particularly libertarian in its outlook, though Republicans offer some rhetoric, if little else.
Now in itself this doesn't bother me, since I'm not a libertarian. I am a supporter of market mechanisms as generally the best approach to economic problems, and it does bother me that neither party seems to care much about this.
Libertarian beliefs had a bad DECADE in the 1930s, and we haven't had a depression since then.
Steve,
Are you going to make an assertion, or are you just going to spend all day snarking over there?
Because I'd love for you to flesh out that last thought.
Prior to the Great Depression, we had mini-depressions and sharp recessions on a regular basis. The free market reigned and we had the gold standard. Private enterprise (gold miners) determined how much money was available. Classic economics ruled the day. We had monopolies in everything, and there was NO regulation. It was a libertarian utopia.
Then came the great depression.
Then there was regulation under every blade of grass, the government decided how much money was available, and monopolies were blown up. A
Libertarian nightmare.
...but we haven't had a really sharp recession or mini-depression since...
So you tell me. Is it the unrestrained free market causing the recessions/depressions? Is it that gold miners determined how much monitary stimulus was in the system that caused them? What is it?
No matter what, you'll have to agree that Libertarians had a bad decade in the 30s, and we haven't had a depression since then. Not saying there is a connection, but there could be.
What about those stupid tariffs against Chinese bras/ apparel? Add that to the debit side
While you're adding items, note that Bush's veto threats made the Senate kill a measure that would have ended the ban on travel to Cuba.
Prashant--
That WAS pretty dumb. Guess that Harvard MBA didn't teach GW that putting tariffs on stuff your country no longer makes does not do any good.
Steve,
If you ignore Lincoln, T. Roosevelt, Wilson, etc., you are right that "Prior to the Great Depression . . . . It was a libertarian utopia."
David Lloyd-Jones has me confused with Rush Limbaugh.
I thought Bruce Bartlett just died, medications or not.
Or was that Bruce Bartlett ?