Kudlow's 'Ayn Randian, Free Market Nirvana'

[swag]

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2010/01/kudlows-ayn-randian-free-market-nirvana.html

"So Larry Kudlow was on the radio this morning ... prattling on about the resilience of the free markets despite what he calls “socialism lite” and the ascendancy of a new conservatism driven by the tea partiers that’s going to lead to a Republican takeover of Congress in November. It’s essentially the same shtick he usually delivers. What’s amazing..., though ... is that even after two of the most tumultuous years of our lives, he hasn’t changed his tune, not by even one note.

Kudlow’s performance requires some amount of self-delusion. He’s optimistic, and that’s fine. ... But in his world, it’s like the last two years never happened,"

"What a surprise. The people with the most to gain from our current system, a system that socializes losses but keep gains private, are trying to blame it all on the government. We'll hear again and again from those who benefit from out current system of "socialism for the elite" that government caused the crisis, and then made it worse. We'll hear how awful it will be for jobs and the economy if the financial sector is restricted in any way. They're full of snake oil. That's all that is."

[Dr.Phool]

1. Their Randian Ideology is as bankrupt as Soviet Communism.

I can't stand Kudlow. The only time I see him is if he appears on a tv, parked in front of my treadmill at the gym.

Self assured, arrogant, and deluded.

[swag]

2. CNBC needs to be shut down. Bloomberg TV is a bit more sane. Nobody watches Fox Business Network.

[Ken Burch]

3. The first time I saw Kudlow on tv, I thought he was Phil Hartmann doing a character

Then I realized that there was nothing at all amusing about his material. At least not intentionally amusing.

I wonder if he enjoys dressing up like Ayn Rand at the end of a hard day on the set?

(Scary photo warning)

[zeemike]

5. But like Soviet communism the faithful cannot see.

Just how bankrupt it is. They will cling to it to the very end.

[MisterP]

12. more bankrupt really--under Yeltsin, Russians began missing living into their 70s... nt

[bemildred]

13. Well said.

What free-market fundies really long for is wealth-feudalism.

[Change Happens]

4. I watch his show every night, he is a PIG...I don't understand

how then average Joe out there, people who make less than $100K, can relate to his views...etc.

If Hardball has about 400K audience every night, Kudlow's must be around 100K?

[JoeyT]

6. Randian Free Marketism

is nothing more than a religion. Period.
Randroids can scream about how capital-O-objective they are all they like, when they fail to back it up with rational theories of any kind it all goes out the window. Especially when they're hell bent on ignoring evidence and reality in favor of worshipping at the altar of "The Free Market".
They're a cult, and not even a very bright cult at that.

[Joe Chi Minh]

7. You hear very little if anything at all about her in Europe. Even the UK.

I think only the American right could take her seriously. If she were not such an extreme psychopath, 'pot-boilers' would be her genre. As it is, it sounds to me that her 'oeuvres' belong in the files of a secure psychiatric institution.

[dhpgetsit]

8. There is no such thing as a functional free market.

Capitalism is not a form of government. It it a monetary system. Socialism exists at some level in all functioning governments.

Capitalism depends on a certain level of socialism. Without public infrastructure such as a banking system, roads and other infrastructure, courts and law enforcement, markets would crumble.

Unregulated capitalism leads to excessive concentration of wealth and power, and ultimately leads to fascism. The proper role of government is to "regulate commerce" (Use this phrase because it's in the Constitution) to ensure that commerce serves the needs of We the People.

We all know people who need a lesson in the proper adversarial role of government vis-a-vis commerce. Never miss an opportunity to explain the relationship between capitalism and socialism (or commerce and government if you prefer).

And we need to demand government that represents We the People. Unfortunately the deregulation that has taken place in recent decades has led to a situation where government corruption is legal and the government has begun to represent They the Corporations for the most part.

[Cassandra]

9. Without a functioning middle class...

markets also crumble.

[Prospero1]

10. His views are not a philosophy...

but a rationale. It boils down to "I've got mine and the hell with everyone else". He doesn't want sensible regulation that limits the economic harm of Wall Streets wild speculation so he couches it in "free market" rhetoric. In an actual free market, theres no such thing as "too big to fail" - if you lose big you fail. In an actual free market, competition is encouraged, and one is prohibited from creating vertical monopolies or buying one's competitors. In an actual free market, there is a level playing field for all participants and insider trading is prohibited. But the positions Kudlow advocates do not include restrictions that guarantee a free AND FAIR marketplace.

[neverforget]

11. Free Market Fundamentalist