Policymakers "Got It Right": Why Free Market Ideology Is Wrong

Awww see now, they're just messin' with your heads with this segment. What self respecting businessman would ever put any trust in a bunch of civil servants?

Free market is wrong? This unbelievably stupid. He IS advocating socialism!

Central Government should be limited; the 2007-08 credit crunch was caused by bad regulation not a lack of regulation

"government has a role in keeping the market's "animal spirits" in check; but he's not advocating socialism -- far from it."...............Yes he is not advocating socialism but evading that socialism is a natural consequence of government control of the economy. The man is playing with words like a slick snake oil salesman. Darn city slicker.

But isn't what we had, particularly during the last administration, socialism for the rich and Victorian-era capitalism for the poor? Put another way, isn't what we have had a kleptocracy, with government by and for thieves?

"government has a role in keeping the market's "animal spirits" in check; but he's not advocating socialism -- far from it."...............Yes he is not advocating socialism but evading that socialism is a natural consequence of government control of the economy. The man is playing with words like a slick snake oil salesman. Darn city slicker.

I am caution when someone says we get it "right". One can only say that years after the fact!

Exit strategy? That would imply they had a plan ...

Sure, government control of the economy is ok, as long there is massive amounts of credit being readily available. Who cares when everything is rosy? But when Reaganomics comes crashing down, look out. Ironically Reagan and those like him that advocated decentralized government and "free markets" got the banks, economy and government in bed together faster than a bottle of Carlos Rossi.

Short term interest rates are zero with record government borrowing in the face of an historic economic contraction and implosion in tax revenues and people still pretend we have free markets? Wow...I guess everyone is stupid.

Neither unlimited capitalism nor unlimited socialism work well for the majority of people. It's the job of government to find the balance point, since individual citizens by themselves have no clout. Free market: Enron, AIG, Madoff Government: Zimbabwe Happy Medium: Denmark, Norway

The thing that haunts me is if a business is going to fail, let it... No bail-outs. If you do let them fail, they naturally die, and new things that inspire confidence, new things that are opposed to what kept the public away from these dying corporate thieves are brought to the people. Free Market dictates perfection in Supply and Demand. If GM mass built the Electric Car, and continued to produce it in 1997, instead of buying AM General's Hummer, maybe we would be buying 0 Fossil Fuel vehicles today, and they would still be alive and leading... Instead we are bailing out a company and awarding them for their own mistakes... Bad Business!

I seem to remember that the last "crisis" was basically the result of a over zealous government pushing home loans to people who could not affort them. They pushed this to an extreme under the assumption that everyone in the USA should own their own home. This assumption is flawed because home ownership is very expensive and is not necessarily financially "right" for everyone.

What an idiot.

If I find out a socialist is managing one of my investments, I'm out. Apparently he has never heard of Russia. or taken a look at the unemployment rate in Western Europe? I recommend that this person file suit against the colleges and universities that dropped the ball and failed to provide him with a good education.

By the way, ever wonder what motivates these pathetic economist shills to do whatever it is they do? There are easier ways to make money than crawling out of bed early every morning, crowding into trafficv or onto planes, and then making an absolute fool of yourself in public by mouthing economic idiocies...?!?

you still have victorian-era capitalism for the poor under this administration and with each passing day the middleclass erodes and becomes part of the poor ;;;; this administration has made sure you are made aware of the excesses of the wealthy ;;;; it is their means to an end ;;;; if you actually look at what this administration has done you would have noticed that while belittling the wealthy class they were still afforded the opportunity to remain wealthy ;;;; with all the work this administration has done where has the poor and middleclass benefitted otherthan unemployment compensation extensions

Terribly inaccurate piece. Greenspan was also flawed. Free-markets function better than anything. The problem we just lived through was caused by government - not because of a lack of it.

You know what happens if my small business fails? I let it, I start a new one, with wisdom learned from my mistakes. Why should the rules be any different for big biz? We are prolonging this recession through overuse of government policy in the private sector! Let things die people, so that new things can start already...

No really. Obama is so smart he can manage every business transaction, set every price and run every aspect of your life. It's true. A wise government official will come to a far superior economic decision than a free market every time. Hail Obama!