Free-market terrorist Thomas Woods blames REGULATION for the market meltdown....

[marmar]

These freaks need to be escorted back to their caves..... :freak:



from MarketWatch:



PETER BRIMELOW
Maybe the meltdown wasn't what you think

By Peter Brimelow, MarketWatch


NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Everyone knows the crash of 2008 was caused by financial deregulation except Thomas E. Woods, who blames financial regulation, in the shape of the Federal Reserve.

Wood's new book, "Meltdown: A Free Market Look At Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse" (Regnery), has just made it to the New York Times best-seller list without the benefit of any major reviews.

That's par for the course for Woods, a fellow of the Auburn, Ala.-based Ludwig von Mises Institute, advocates of "Austrian economics," a particularly embattled faction of free market economists -- all of whom are pretty embattled, or out of fashion, right now.

The Austrian school argues that business cycles are driven by central banks keeping interest rates too low, expanding credit and encouraging uneconomic investments, creating an unsustainable boom, inevitably followed by a bust.

That's what happened here, says Woods, most recently with the Fed's multiple interest rate cuts to stave off the 2000-2002 slowdown.

Certainly debt levels had reached historic highs before the crash.

Woods argues the crash of 2008 was a perfect storm. Other elements included immense government pressure on mortgage lenders to loosen standards and make loans to questionably credit-worthy but politically favored demographic groups; and securitization, which spread the effects of bad mortgage lending around the world. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Maybe-meltdown-not-you-think/story.aspx?guid=%7B956958F4%2D3CE2%2D4E1C%2D90EE%2D1C1159F0CB14%7D

[Warpy]

1. He's just bleating the right wing talking points

that created this whole mess.

Why is anybody giving these right wing apologists media access? Haven't they done enough damage?

[Idealism]

3. The Austrian school of economics goes beyond right wing talking points

It is what the French and several leftist South American Presidents call "Savage Capitalism." The Austrian school uses no mathematical or econometric formulas, but rather base their ideals on rather uneducated hypothesis that tend to be more ideological than practical.

It is something that only the extreme right-wing politicians aspire to mold our system after.

[louis-t]

2. Time magazine had a pretty good assessment of the 25

people most responsible for the economic meltdown. I didn't totally agree with their ranking of most to least (I thought bush should have been higher on the list). Mostly CEOs, crooks, and neocons. Oh, wait, those last 2 are interchangeable.

[DCKit]

4. Black is white, light is darkness, up is down.

And, again, blaming the Community Reinvestment Act for taking down the economy because of some unnamed "politically favored demographic groups". Geez, I wonder who he's talking about - almost as much as I wonder what group he's pandering to with those all-to-familiar Republic code words.

As far as being at the top of the NYT best-seller list, that stopped meaning anything the first time some Republic stooge's books were bought by the truckload and stashed in a warehouse - It's SOP nowadays for any "successful conservative author."

[Locrian]

5. motive?

What possess these guys? Serious question.

Are they malicious? Meaning they WANT the public to believe this so the rich can take over everything?
Or are they stupid?
Or are they "anarchist", or just greedy and using controversy to sell books?

I mean WTF? It boggles the mind. But the corporations, RW propaganda machine eats this raw shit as their diet and shovels it 24/7 on teevee.

I guess what scare me the most is that our "system" doesn't immediately marginalize this guy to the dustbin of raw shit.

[Spinzonner]

6. Just the publisher tells me all I need to know

[Median Democrat]

7. Government Pressure? So, Countrywide Was Making Sub-prime Loans...

...for egalitarian reasons and not to rack up fees from the origination of mortgages? Who knew that Mozillo was so charitable?

[Hello_Kitty]

10. It's unbelievable to me that people are making these arguments

I personally know mortgage vultures uh brokers who were signing up anyone who could fog a mirror for a mortgage or a refi. Trust me, no one was twisting their arm.

[Hello_Kitty]

8. Regnery - the last refuge of scoundrels who are also crappy writers

Coming soon to a 99 cent bin near you!

[HughBeaumont]

9. Regnery = "The Rich White Man NEVER needs to say he's sorry. For ANYthing"

Pretty much the closest thing to a vanity hate press without crossing the National Alliance border.