Capitalism Is Dead... Long Live Capitalism



Probably one of the best cartoons from Kal.

While some on the left are calling for the end of capitalism, we have some on the far-right (American Libertarians/traditional conservatives/free market supporters) saying the current mess is mostly the government's fault. I personally don't buy that view but if someone is in the mood for a critique of the current system from an extremist, Austrian eocnomist, view, check out Jim Grant's latest piece in The Wall Street Journal. I just don't see how he can pin the blame on the central bank (The book hasn't come out yet but my impression is that his forthcoming book will blame the central bank actions.) I'm trying to dig up some information from the 1800's to illustrate how terribles things were when gold or silver backed currencies, there was no central bank resembling the present ones, and deflation was the norm. It's amazing that so many libertarians and conservatives who were in favour of extreme de-regulation of markets don't want to take responsibility for the mess. It's so bad that some even start blaming Fannie and Freddie for the subprime mortgage losses, while purposely ignoring the fact that the GSEs never were players in subprime.

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 19, 2008 at 7:30 AM

    If you have access to it,
    check out the OpEd piece in the WSJ on 10/18:
    The Weekend Interview with Anna Schwartz: Bernanke Is Fighting the Last War
    By Brian M. Carney

    ReplyDelete

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