The housing meltdown and the free market zealots

[edhopper]

This is a very long, but very important article by economist Nouriel Roubini on the spin that the WJS and Larry Kudlows will give to the subprime collapse.

http://www.rgemonitor.com/blog/roubini/184125

[Bigmack]

1. So this doesn't disappear...nt

nt

[Eurobabe]

2. Interesting, I have just forwarded to a friend

Thanks for sharing! :hi:

I swear I learn more on DU than any other place.

[originalpckelly]

3. There will always be snake-oil salesmen, however...

people must be intelligent enough to know there is no such thing as free money.

We need consumer regulation. People need to stop using/buying services/goods that are not good for them. Governments are small enough that they can be bought off, but the entire group of consumers cannot. That's the power of consumer regulation.

The Republicans are right about government interference, but they prove why there shouldn't be any themselves. Just look at the way big companies have been sheltered by this government under Bush and the Republican Congress.

Look at the way workers languished at $5.15 an hour for ten years.

The problem here is that government is involved. It will eventually be in the hands of Republicans, because people will forget how much they were screwed by the Republicans one day. Then about that time the false patriotism will sweep up a bunch of people and they'll vote for Republicans.

That's why we need consumer regulation. If we refuse to buy something, there's no way in a free market they can make you buy it. If they should make us buy something, then it will show how uncommitted to freedom and liberty they really are.

Consumers can and should boycott foods until a government-independent inspections regime can be implemented. Inspectors should be chosen randomly from the members of a consumer union. So that they can't be bought off. They'd be let in to watch how the food is produced.

We need to be responsible, because responsibility is power.

[nashville_brook]

4. "consumer regulation" sounds a lot like "free market"

[ProfessorGAC]

5. Depends

kelly might be suggesting banning certain things to keep the consumer from wanting it. That would be consumer regulation too. I don't concur, btw, with pck's opinion that gov't interference is inherently wrong.

It's a matter of execution, not of principle.
The Professor

[originalpckelly]

9. No, what I'm saying is ban a particular brand of a type of product...

Say peanut butter for example.

We would boycott one brand of peanut butter until they submit themselves to inspections by a pro-consumer organization, which would make sure that the product was safe for consumption.

Then we'd move on to another brand, while buying the brand that had submitted to inspections.

No government action is needed, because these companies will submit themselves or they will be out of business.

It's a really easy thing for consumers to do, because we can buy other brands of the same type of product.

Consumers have this vast and usually untapped power over companies.

No one wants to eat food that might kill them, as long as it doesn't taste any better. There may be differences between brands of peanut butter, but they aren't big enough for most people to really make a stink about it.

[edhopper]

11. The idea that

consumers would act in unison for the common good and not be swayed by unregulated corporations and the MSM that they control is a pipe dream and flies in the face of the real world.
The power of corporations can only be countered by government.

[Xenotime]

6. Have we identified who the free market zelots are?

[ProfessorGAC]

7. It's In The Article

It's not a terribly well written piece, but it appears this is an educated person for whom English is a second language. That would explain some of the syntax.

But, i concur completely with his overall point that we have an intellectually vacant macroeconomic philosophy dominating the scene. And, i am on board with the notion that we cannot continue so aggressively deregulate. The laissez faire approach is admirable only within a utopian world where greed, as opposed to achivement, is a non-factor. Since that two dimensional utopia doesn't exist, governments social responsibility is to regulate business, finance, and markets. Continuing the move toward deregulation and turning a blind eye to markets in some quixotic effort to "free" them up, is an abdication of responsibility. Not admirable! Cowardly.

It's a good article, albeit a bit repititious.
The Professor

[nashville_brook]

8. Wall Street Journal editorial page, Arthur Laffer, Steve Hanke

the article is definitely worth reading

[edhopper]

10. Just so you know

Prof Roubini is not a man without credentials;

Nouriel Roubini
Professor Nouriel Roubini is Professor of Economics at the Stern School of Business, New York University. He is also Co-Founder and Chairman of Roubini Global Economics LLC, a web-based economic and geostrategic information service and economic consultancy.

http://www.theglobalist.com/AuthorBiography.aspx?AuthorId=810