Judgement Day

Discussion in 'Economics' started by johnnyseville, Sep 16, 2008.

  1. The current market melt-down is not a failure of the free market system. It is a failure of market intervention. Markets need strong regulation to curb excesses, as the latest debacle illustrates, but regulation should not interfere with the market's underlying price-setting mechanism. The invisible hand of the market, as Adam Smith so aptly described it. The root cause of the credit bubble, whose rupturing has decimated the financial sector, is interference with this natural market mechanism which matches borrowers and investors. Suppressing interest rates to artificially low levels created a mis-match, destroying savings, fuelling inflation, encouraging speculation rather than investment in productive assets, and triggering the trade deficit. The fact that this distortion has been allowed to survive and grow for almost three decades attests to the lobbying power of special interest groups and their ability to subvert government to their own ends. The financial sector has benefitted hugely from the credit bubble, but now face their day of judgement. Hopefully the survivors will learn from the mistakes of the past.

    OUR FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS ARE BEING TERMINATED, ONE BY ONE.