Comments on FreeColorado.com: Palin Lets Biden Disparage Free Market

Really, Anonymous? How was it that EVERYONE on Wal...

2008-10-13T01:33:00.000-06:00

Really, Anonymous? How was it that EVERYONE on Wall Street was sideswiped by the crisis? How come NO ONE saw it coming? Were they ALL "greedy" and incompetent, bad betters? No one saw it coming because there was no way they could have understood the magnitude of the situation they were facing: A total government takedown of the economy. It started with the fiat currency, add GSEs, add the CRA, then when that causes a real estate bust but no general economic takedown, attack the record books with mandatory mark-to-market accounting. No matter how productive they are, no one can survive a government decree declaring their assets to be near worthless. Start the write-downs, capital reserve reqs kick in, everyone cash out their assets, say good-night.

Palin was right - don't forget the most egregious ...

2008-10-05T23:05:00.000-06:00

Palin was right - don't forget the most egregious problem in this matter was the poorly managed credit default swaps (CDSs) that became untenable for the AIG's of the world. They gambled their companies' very existences - but clearly it was never their company to gamble away, was it. They screwed countless investors and shareholders and ultimately the nation by their greedy practices. This is precisely why McCain called for SEC Chairman Cox to be fired.

The fact that Biden and liberals will forever call for regulation of everything aside from their own never-ending, misguided redistribution mantra (all of which sucks) - AND - the fact that the liberal government urged on bad mortgages (which was not deregulation, but rather overregulation, which always sucks) - can't be used to hide the fact that Wall Street appears to have required a bailout due mostly because of the risky bets they made by abusing CDSs. There does need to be regulation in that BS.

You can argue they would not have abused CDSs had there not been government mortgage mandates - but - one can easily argue that the enormity of this crisis, which is certainly not covered by a mere $700B, would never have grown to its magnitude had a greedy Wall Street not believed they were making some really, really good bets - and they were really, really wrong. And as I wrote above, that will require new regulation.

Don't blame Palin for Biden's stupidity - he's earned that all on his own and mostly at the American taxpayer's expense for 35 years. Did you hear that chump argue for bankruptcy court judges to forgive principal?!! That ain't Palin, that's Biden.

The problem McCain/Palin have is the same for every politician on the right of center. It's easy in 10 seconds for Obama, Biden, Clinton, Pelosi, and Marx to argue for redistribution to an uneducated, class-envying populace. It's not easy in itty-bitty, moderator-controlled sound bites to educate the masses that they should focus on generating more personal income as opposed to their lazy-butt redistribution schemes.

Oh well ... this problem is so huge it's likely too late to do much of anything about it. My recommendation is take a nice, expensive vacation and then return in time to get a good place in line for your weekly government-issued bag of flour and bucket of gruel ... it's all right around the corner.

Ari, I agree in general. However at the same time ...

2008-10-02T21:37:00.000-06:00

Ari, I agree in general. However at the same time that "protecting individual rights" is a bit abstract. John Lewis was on a radio show tonight, and he was fantastcally concrete without losing the idea behind the principles.

He countered any claim that deregulation caused the mess. He framed it as govt interference, gave concrete examples, and then called for "Emergency DE-regulation" so that businessmen were not hamstrung and could use their minds to find the best solutions.

It was a concrete and principled defense simultaneously.

I think a lot of what I see from Objectivists today is a principled defense that is not brought down to the inductive level for the average smart reader.

Agreed. Palin missed a lot of counter punch oppor...

2008-10-02T21:30:00.000-06:00

Agreed. Palin missed a lot of counter punch opportunities and could have scored even more point by including government interference and bad regulation as a villain. She showed that she has a lot of personality and charisma, but not much in the way of intellect or understanding of current economic issues.