I think there is truth in letting people make their own mistakes, but then again the Great Depression was the market at work.

When asked what the government should have done to prevent the Great Depression, economist Von Mises answered:
“It should have done nothing, sooner.”
The Smoot-Hawley tariff created trade protection, and a similar reaction by US trading partners. This made the value added by less skilled labor less than the government required price of labor. As a result, businesses fired workers in massive numbers, leading to the downward spiral of the Great Depression.
It was not free markets: it was trade protectionism and laws protecting unions that caused the Great Depression.

So where’s the apology for all the damage you caused when you were a typical inside-the-beltway politician with the typical elitist attitude toward ordinary Americans?

highhopes on March 7, 2008 at 11:26 AM

Your screen name is no lie. You are quite optimistic! Silante!

This may have some affect on the boomers who idolized him in the 70s. Today’s younger crowd may just view him as an old coot who jumped ship on the liberal movement.

Bush-McSame have succeeded in turning many conservatives into liberals.

It’s called taking risks, and that means sometimes those risks fail.

Yep. If Oliver Twist had been set in the late 20th century/early 21st century Oliver would never have gone to London to try and seek his fortune, he’d be idling on Fagan’s couch moaning about “Why hasn’t the Labour Party increased my welfare check?”

Good grief — who would have ever thought I’d agree with McGovern on much of anything? But as Rick Sincere points out, the liberal icon makes a lot of sense from a libertarian, free market perspective in his column in……

I hope I’m guilty of Bush-Putin “look in his eyes” fantasy. I believe most Democrats would agree with McGovern if they weren’t blinded by political correctness.

The meat of the article is preserved here, but here’s an excerpt:

The second lesson I leared by owning the Stratford Inn is that legislators and government resultators must more carefully consider the economic and management burdens we have been imposing on US business. …

I’m for protecting the health and well-being of both workers and consumers. I’m for a clean environment and economic justice. But I’m convinced we can pursue those worthy goals and still cut down vastly on the incredible paperwork, the complicated tax forms, the number of minute regulations, and the seemingly endless reporting requirements that afflict American business. Many businesses, especially small independents such as the Stratford Inn, simply can’t pass costs on to their customers and remain competitive or profitable.

As Instapundit put it, this sounds far better than anything coming from Clinton or Obama.

Winston Churchill once said, “Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has no heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains.” This has been one of my favorite political quotes for quite some time as it tr…

Democrats: Because no one should have to make a choice.

DrSteve on March 7, 2008 at 11:01 AM

Great line!. Can I appropriate it?

http://seekingalpha.com/article/67197-foreclosure-proof-homeowners

Here’s an enlightening little link just in case the government thinks it really needs to interfere in this loan “crisis.” It shows the other side that a you may have not considered…

/seekingalpha.com/article/67197-foreclosure-proof-homeowners

I thought the gov ‘mandated’ more loans to sub-prime borrowers. Am I mistaken?

I believe you’re correct. Quoth Dr. Williams:

The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, whose provisions were strengthened during the Clinton administration, is a federal law that mandates lenders to offer credit throughout their entire market and discourages them from restricting their credit services to high-income markets, a practice known as redlining. In other words, the Community Reinvestment Act encourages banks and thrifts to make loans to riskier customers.

Dare I say it?

Yes I can!

SECOND LOOK AT MCGOVERN!

Some of his proposals to hand out more federal money directly to the poor look positively capitalistic today, compared to the massive programs we have that spend $2, $3, and even $10 in bureaucracy to put each $1 in the hands of a citizen.

Yes, he was (and probably still is) a tax-and-spend liberal, but I bet he doesn’t have a picture of Che hanging on his wall.

What’s next? Jimmy Carter calling for an invasion of Cuba?

They still believe in the paternalism Socialist Utopia he has now wisely rejected – sort of.