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Since I’m on such a crazy political rampage, I thought I might just include this little note I found lying around reddit. Its by Dr. Ron Paul. Look, it should be obvious at this point that the Government had a little more than something to do with the current market scares and down-trends. Albeit most of the blame still has to be put on really really bad risk management on the part of the banks (something I like to call greed). But I like to look at more from a perspective of: “and you still want the government to control — insert target of gov’t program here –!?”
Also I would like to point out that the other aspect of the government involvement may have been more directed to PROTECTING it’s citizens from bad lending practices and not PROVIDING HOMES FOR THEM.
Mike wrote:
…and unabashed pursuit of self-interest, even if misguided - what some might call greed - is the foundation of capitalism. so if free-market capitalism is the answer, then I fail to see how the banks who took a bad risk are the problem. Let people sink or swim on their own, pull themselves up by their bootstraps, not count on the government, etc., etc.
But regardless, this is why Ron Paul was a gynecologist, not a political theorist or economist, and certainly not a historian. And if a well-documented racist is the only hope for this country, then I’d rather be hopeless, because God only knows what his “revolution” would do to the already-devastated poor and minorities. People would rather work than be given handouts, no matter what he says - just look at social science research. But the fact is, most can’t live on what they’re paid. As far as I can tell, Ron Paul never done any actual research, at least not any neutral research. He only makes broad, sweeping assumptions about the economy and the poor, especially poor blacks. I have researched, for example, welfare reform. I have edited a paper on it while in law school. And the current system is flawed not because it involves cash transfers from the government to the poor but because it provides perverse incentives to avoid the formation of nuclear families and informal support systems that would support the educational and financial advancement of the poor. Without going into excruciating detail, empirical research indicates that a citizen investment program without such perverse incentives and with a later graduated tax system would ultimately benefit individuals, the government, and the economy in general.
But Ron Paul - and others like him - are slaves to idealism rather than pragmatism, regardless of what they pretend. Why listen to research when you have such a simplified view of government and economy? The people doing such research are undoubtedly funded by an unwieldy government and have a liberal agenda, right?
P.S. The link doesn’t work.
Posted on 16-Apr-08 at 4:48 pm | Permalink