Thursday, October 2, 2008

Barack Obama's dip in the financial swamp

Green Party presidential nominee Cynthia McKinney, fresh off claiming the federal government executed 5000 people during Hurricane Katrina and dumped their bodies in a swamp, sounds like Sen. Barack Obama in claiming that the financial meltdown was caused deregulation and free-market ideology.


Sounds a lot like Sen. Obama when he said:

“Now they said they wanted to let the market run free. But instead they let it run wild. And in the process, they’ve trampled on our American values of fairness and balance and responsibility to one another.”
Both of them -- or either one -- should explain in detail where free markets went wrong.

4 comments:

Hempy said...

If you knew anything about capitalism you shouldn't have to be spoon fed to explain what went wrong.

However, here are a few basics to keep in mind. Capitalism as an economic system lacking morals. It contains no concept of justice. Why? Because justice means fairness and fairness means proportionality.

The values of capitalism are to get a free handout (usually from the government or hostilely seize it from others who can't defend it, (American Indians comes to mind).

Then capitalism seeks to maximize profits of a few at the expense of the many.

Capitalism wants to dump its excrements on the many at no cost to the capitalists. (That's called pollution today.)

Capitalism is hostile to the human values of the Golden Rule, because the Golden Rule implies justice.

Because capitalism lacks these values, a stronger force, e.g., government has to set rules that embody the values of justice.

That is anathema to capitalists who then scream hysterically that such rules violates the "free market." The only thing free about the free market is the free handouts capitalists get.

With this basic understanding of capitalism, David, it shouldn't be too hard for you or Cynthia McKinney to figure out where the "free markets went wrong." Chou.

David Adams said...

Government set the rule that suspended free market, capitalistic restraint embodied by rational lending standards.

Inexplicably, Hempy, you are confusing capitalism with our current mixed economy.

Hempy said...

Anne Rand's Atlas Shrugged describes capitalism's dependence on a free handout or of taking something by force.

Atlas Shrugged is Alan Greenspan's basis of economic philosophy.

David Adams said...

You win the prize there, Hempy. I have never seen anyone so badly mischaracterize the message from Atlas Shrugged.