Posted on 01/30/2010 7:51:21 AM PST by John Leland 1789
IN identifying the root cause of the global financial crisis, one ought to heed the hymn of caution of renowned economist John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006), who contended that financial collapse was built into the capitalist way of business and life.
Galbraith taught at Harvard and Princeton universities and wrote more than 40 books. "A Short History of Financial Euphoria" published by Penguin in 1994 remains today a quick and clear guide to how capitalism functions, or rather dysfunctions.
"Recurrent descent into insanity is not a wholly attractive feature of capitalism," Galbraith wrote. "The circumstances that induce the recurrent lapses into financial dementia have not changed in any truly operative fashion since the Tulipomania of 1636-1637."
Excerpt: Read more at: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=427339&type=Opinion
(Excerpt) Read more at shanghaidaily.com ...
Were it not for capitalism, they would not be in the position in which they currently find themselves. Who do they think bought all their crap?
Guess what? Every human system is imperfect and (thus) holds the seeds of its own collapse. The only hope is that you have wise leaders who combat the encroaching inertia and stave it off as long as possible.
Along with fines and jail time for those who broke laws.
Waiting...........waiting...........waiting.......
I wonder if those in power don't want any investigation because it might implicate some high level politicians and others.
And we “stupid” Americans are too busy to demand these investigations.
Conspiracy theory: maybe it was part of a greater plan to strip wealth out of the middle class. You know that people like Soros made out like bandits.
It’s called a marketplace and is inherently free and must not be manipulated.
btt
Capitalism is a pejorative term created by Marxists
to describe freedom and liberty.
“Capitalism is a pejorative term created by Marxists
to describe freedom and liberty.”
I caught Friday evening’s Rusty Humphries program over the Internet (I’m in Shanghai). He was interviewing the current (atheist) head of the Ayn(e)Rand organization. I can’t remember the man’s name at the moment.
To be quite frank, IMHO, he gives a very demenaing tone, a very selfish, unkind expression of the free enterprise system; may I say, a godless (atheistic) expression.
Clearly she did not believe in private property. As she stole some other woman's husband. Ayn Rand was an interesting person.
One of the strengths of Free Republic is the willingness of its participants to inform themselves of what the adversary is thinking. The left could not conceive of such a thing and that is why they will ultimately fail. It cannot synthesize new data into a new plan, period.
If capitalism wants to defeat Marxism it simply has to stop crashing and bringing down the castle. Galbraith has his head up his butt when he states that capitalism sows the seeds of its own destruction and that market crashes are intrinsic to its workings. What sows the seeds of capitalist destruction is MONOPOLY, nothing more. Capitalism is a thousand experiments, the failure of one or several of which will provide a lesson rather than destruction. When you get an enterprise that is big enough to effect the life of a government if it fails, then you have concentrations of power that constitute corporate control of the state or fascism, which is NO BETTER than Marxism. Monopoly capitalism is a DEATH WISH.
The AIG and Goldman Sachs monopolists acted to destroy the American economy in a time of war and their players should be shot for treason.
“If capitalism wants to defeat Marxism it simply has to stop crashing and bringing down the castle. Galbraith has his head up his butt when he states that capitalism sows the seeds of its own destruction and that market crashes are intrinsic to its workings. What sows the seeds of capitalist destruction is MONOPOLY, nothing more. Capitalism is a thousand experiments, the failure of one or several of which will provide a lesson rather than destruction. When you get an enterprise that is big enough to effect the life of a government if it fails, then you have concentrations of power that constitute corporate control of the state or fascism, which is NO BETTER than Marxism. Monopoly capitalism is a DEATH WISH.”
“...a very demeaning tone, a very selfish, unkind expression of the free enterprise system; may I say, a godless (atheistic) expression.”
Well, Objectivism is indeed godless and very selfish. Ayn Rand’s philosophy was built around the fact that “Selfishness is a virtue.”
The opposite of selfish is selfless, the very thing all shades of tyrants love most—that’s why they preach it, and even demand it.
What, individual freedom is based in self-sacrifice, in so-called selflessness?
To be without self is to be room temperature.
Humans are born selfish and they will all die selfish. We cannot survive if we cannot act in our own best interests.
There’s nothing magical about capitalism—it’s two people trading for completely selfish reasons, and it’s one of the most beautiful things that humans can do, as evidenced by the success of humans in this country.
“Clearly she did not believe in private property. As she stole some other woman’s husband.”
Oh, brother.
You should know what you speak of before you speak.
No one stole anyone’s “property.”
A very revealing way to describe a human being.
The free market did not cause this crisis, the government did.
The free market did not take us off the gold standard, the government did.
The free market did not dump trillions of dollars of cheap money into the system, the government did.
The free market did not create multiple trillion dollar entitlement programs, the government did.
The free market did not create Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (and let’s not forget Ginnie Mae and Sallie Mae!), the government did.
The free market did not write a tax code that favors one product (real estate) over others, the government did.
The free market did not pass laws that force banks to lend to those who do not qualify for a loan, the government did.
This crisis is the result of a giant social engineering experiment and vote-buying scheme gone tragically wrong.
The free market does not try to engineer society or buy votes, the government does.
The government caused this crisis, the free market did not.
The government cannot fix the crisis, the free market can.
“Humans are born selfish and they will all die selfish. We cannot survive if we cannot act in our own best interests.
The free market did not cause this crisis, the government did.
The free market did not take us off the gold standard, the government did.
The free market did not dump trillions of dollars of cheap money into the system, the government did.
The free market did not create multiple trillion dollar entitlement programs, the government did.
The free market did not create Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (and lets not forget Ginnie Mae and Sallie Mae!), the government did.
The free market did not write a tax code that favors one product (real estate) over others, the government did.
The free market did not pass laws that force banks to lend to those who do not qualify for a loan, the government did.
This crisis is the result of a giant social engineering experiment and vote-buying scheme gone tragically wrong.
The free market does not try to engineer society or buy votes, the government does.
The government caused this crisis, the free market did not.
The government cannot fix the crisis, the free market can.
Oh, brother.
You should know what you speak of before you speak.
No one stole anyones property.
A very revealing way to describe a human being.
Let me put it in a more Politically Correct manner. When it came to her own lusts, she did not respect other's contracts. She actively worked to have others violate their contracts. When it came to the fabric of society i.e. contract law Sorry.
She placed herself above the law.
There is a bit of truth in the idea that markets do not always behave in a rational manner. That said, the last thing we need is “crony capitalism” like we have now where various interests buy favors by bribing politicians and civil servants.
My old Econ prof (a stock market genius who made a lot of clients wealthy) had me read the book, “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds”. The parallels to the recent world wide Bubble in many classes of assets and the subsequent Bust are an old story. The Missiissippi Bubble, the Tulip Mania, and many other bubbles happened hundreds of years ago. Human nature has not changed.
I think the Global Warming scam/religion is a modern example of an “extraordinary popular delusion”.
Studying history helps people to identify these delusions and avoid becoming a victim.
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