E.D. Hart

John Lee Responds to Nobel Laureate Stiglitz's Subprime Thesis

Mr. Lee,
Your libertarian free market philosophy, if taken to its logical conclusion, leads to some interesting conclusions:

1) Most of our governments intervention in markets would be eliminated, including the SEC
2) Federal reserve would be eliminated
3) FDIC insurance eliminated
4) and really, why not have each state defend its own borders (by private contractors) instead of the socialized national defense we have now?

Let each person fend for themselves and see what happens.

Apart from the fact that the vast majority of the public doesn't support these objectives, the contradictions inherent in the ideology would ultimately do it in.

A major reason that so many investors flock to the US with their dollars is that we have well (mostly) regulated markets. Take away that regulation and you seriously curtail the flow of capital across borders. See Zimbabwean stock market...

"Let the careless and the weak fall, isn’t that what capitalism, evolution, and free markets are all about?" Well actually no. Read Adam Smith before the "Wealth of Nations". He states quite clearly the need for some governmental controls.

Do we truly want our markets to be unrestrained evolutionary experiments? Then you would have to accept Exxon/Chevron/Conoco-P... and Mircosoft/oracle/yahoo... as mega monopolies.

It is true that governments often over regulate...but the current mess is not an example of this over regulation.

"Set the market truly free" ? Be careful what you wish for...
Mr. Hart