I would also say that in a truly free market deregulation works because competition steps in. But we haven’t had truly free markets in the US for over 150 years.

Also, Keynesian approaches have never worked, ever. Name one time when it’s worked? You can’t spend your way out of a depression. You can’t stimulate the economy by taking money from the few people/businesses that are successfully productive and giving it to those who have failed.

Really, please, read the book and come back to me. Then we can have a discussion with a common frame of reference.

We’re in this crisis because banking regulations were changed, allowing them to ratchet up their reserve requirements from 10:1 to 80:1. We’re in this mess because Gramm-Leach-Bliley was passed. We’re here because banking regulations were loosened, not tightened.

In short, when you loosen regulation, you guarantee corruption. That’s exactly what we got. The real estate brokerage industry was almost completely unregulated, and as a result buyers, sellers, brokers, and lenders lied on loan applications and paperwork. Everybody down the line based their investments on those applications, and everyone fell like dominoes when the lies came to light.

Deregulation works great for businesses, but not for consumers. We can’t blame businesses for that, their job is to make a profit, ignoring morality. If a fast-food restaurant can save $10M by having just one-hundredth of one percent more of their meat infected with E. Coli, and there is no regulation to stop them, they’ll do it. A few of their customers may become sick, sure, but they’ll make $10M more, and with only anecdotal evidence they contracted the microbe from the restaurant, there won’t be much litigation.

I can’t think of a single case where deregulation has benefited consumers at large, because without threats of force from government, businesses will cut costs on safety and testing to save money.

I want government regulation. I don’t want any idiot in the sky making up his own rules just because he feels like it. I don’t want an airline skimping on maintenance because they can save money.

I agree with Woods and Paul that the government has done (and is doing!) an inept job of resolving this crisis, and maybe we should get rid of the Fed. I just think a lack of regulation is the wrong approach.

Right now, I have more faith in the Keynesians than the Austrian School. But I’ll go read the book, maybe it’ll change my mind

California has a list of approved guns that you can buy. There are numerous instances where the left-handed version of an approved gun is not on the list, and therefore illegal. There are cases where one model of a gun is approved, but the same model in a different color is not approved. How is this keeping anyone safe?

Does anyone need an SUV? Not unless you regularly tow a boat or something. Anyone need a 52″ plasma TV, or hundreds of cable channels? No. Does anyone need a 1300 calorie cinnamon roll at Cinnabon? No. Should the government regulate any of that? No.

As to the current financial situation, I really do urge you to read Meltdown by Thomas Woods jr. It might change your perspective. Or maybe it won’t. But it’s always good to see evidence from both sides of the argument before you set your own opinion.

I’m hoping to go back when we visit Washington this summer, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to get tickets in time; I may have contacted my senator too late. If I do go, I’ll let you know how bad the security has become.

I can think of an area where government reduced it’s control: the financial system, in which a few broke many laws and reaped billions of dollars after the government reduced its regulation. Then, for good measure, the government transferred the losses of those few to the taxpayers of the United States.

This is the big problem I have with Republicans in general: they are all for privatizing the profits, but socializing the losses. Gee, I wish I could do that in MY business! I’d love to be able to take stupid risks and get the government to pay for it when I made a mistake. But I live in the real world, so I have to be careful with money, and only make investments where I’ve calculated and am ready to accept the risk of loss.