Posted on 07/16/2008 2:43:25 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON -- For a generation, most people accepted the idea that the core of what makes America tick was an economy governed by free markets. And whatever combination of goods, services and jobs the market cooked up was presumed to be fine for the nation and for its citizens -- certainly better than government meddling.
No longer.
Spurred by the continued housing crisis, turmoil in financial markets, spiking oil prices, disappearing jobs and shrinking retirement savings, the nation and its political leaders have begun to sour on the notion that the current market system is the key to a fair, stable and efficient society.
"We're at a hinge point," said William A. Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington who helped craft President Clinton's market-friendly agenda during the 1990s. "The strong presumption in favor of markets, which has dominated public policy since the late 1970s, has been thrown very much into question."
Now, to a degree not seen in years, politicians and outside experts are looking with favor at more, not less, government involvement in the economy.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
“Nobody in this country really believes in unfettered free markets, and nobody really believes in socialism,” said UC Davis historian Eric Rauchway, but economic crises of the past have produced constituencies favoring the reining in of markets and regulation of the economy — constituencies that ultimately grew large enough to produce change.
Consider just a few of the things that are pushing people in that direction now:
The price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline has nearly doubled in the last year, while that for a barrel of crude oil has more than doubled, cutting short Americans’ love affair with gas-guzzlers and driving the nation’s trucking, auto and airline industries into deep trouble.
Most mainstream economists assert that these increases are simply the logical outcome of booming global demand meeting limited global supply.
No kidding. Over half our budget consists of socialist income redistribution schemes and with everyone clamoring to get Universal Healthcare it’s quite easy to see that people have lost faith in the market...
Too bad since the market does everything better, cheaper, faster, and overall more efficiently than Uncle Sam.
“Limited global supply”
When Canada has trillions in shale, and we might have up to a trillion in ANWR.
Yeah, sounds really limited to me.
Yeah, and some 200 years plus ago some people on this land got pretty pissed off about that and revolted and formed a new nation. And they put the 2nd Amendment in place should such another similar occasion arise.
Entitlement programs will kill the Golden Goo$e.
New Deal? Hell, Raw Deal .. for future generations!!
The free market, that is for news papers is quickly making it likely this guy will be out of a job.
To be sure he is a good guy and kept on, he’s allowing his farleft values to surface front and center..
it’s not that free markets don’t work, it’s that sharpies have figured out how to rig them. IMO.
mighty nice of the Founding Fathers to believe in back-up plans...
‘Yours to keep’ comes to mind too. :-)
What free market ? It’s not been free in this country at least since the New Deal.
We have markets run by governments both foreign and domestic.
Americans are losing their faith in FREEDOM also, so am not surprised.
We think freedom and democracy is everyone coming out every 4 years to vote for the prettiest candidate. WRONG - it is about protecting an individual’s person and property from unjust seizure (and that includes redistributive taxes or rigged markets). Everything else is secondary.
/s
“...Now, to a degree not seen in years, politicians and outside experts are looking with favor at more, not less, government involvement in the economy...”
Yes, and just as it always has in the past, this expanded government intervention will make things worse, not better.
Go here:
Time for Some Campaignin' http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-us&playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:a32a150d-6b82-49ff-a05b-3bdc2329a9a4&showPlaylist=&from=IV2_en-us_hp&fg=gtlv2
The ''Enron loophole''? From the Commodity Modernization Act of 2000. The ''swaps exemption''? From a combination of Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 and the Commodity Modernization Act the next year.
Result: a crazily rigged mkt...until the Regress undo their misbegotten handiwork.
Oh good Lord! Are people really that ignorant and gullible that they don't see it is the government interference in housing, and oil markets that is causing the economy to be challenged?
. . . and without a clue what a free market might be.
300 can change the course of history if they are willing to make the sacrifice.
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