(no subject)

[desh]

Man, I'm so glad the Republicans love the free market so much.

How long will it take for the idea that Republicans are about free markets and small government to die?

(At this moment, DJIA is down 3.13% for the day, 6.19% for the week, and halfway (from the perspective of the week's opening) to being below 10,000. But at least we're going to start more offshore drilling.)

Comments

[jdcohen.livejournal.com]

Isn't this kind of the reason why absolutely free markets kind of suck, but well-regulated markets are safer and still produce profits? I'm kind of hoping Americans see that this is the result of disastrous laissez faire policies combined with almost absurd levels of greed.

Oh, and fuck Ayn Rand.

--Jeff

[desh]

Yeah, I don't know if I disagree with the bailout or not. It's complicated. My criticism is just the meme that the Republicans are against "regulation" and other vague terms that this bailout definitely falls under. It's not an important point of separation between the parties.

[jdcohen.livejournal.com]

Oh, the bailout is (as the Daily Show put it) the very blatant nationalization of those companies, which the Republicans are DEFINITELY against (ideologically speaking). But when it comes down to the wire, do you stick with ideology and let shit collapse, or do you use the heavy hand of government to try to shore it up? The problem is that I don't trust a Republican (or Bush for that matter) administration to have a heavy hand in turning around these "nationalized" companies AFTER pumping shitloads of taxpayer money into them, unlike a Democratic administration, which would likely insist on larger punishments for upper management and would absolutely ABHOR any golden parachutes for incompetent CEOs.

--Jeff