09.08.09
Just free people up to make things and sell them at a profit
In the inaugural quarterly issue of National Affairs, which has its roots in The Public Interest, there is an important, timely and well-articulated article by University of Chicago Booth School of Business professor Luigi Zingales entitled “Capitalism After the Crisis.”
Among the noteworthy points he makes are -
- the fact that holding lobbyists up as some kind of whipping-boys for free-market economics is a red herring. Lobbyists are motivated to push for advantage for their particular industries or interest groups, rather than see that an absolutely unobstructed arena of free choice exists for all
- the fact that part of America’s exceptionalism is rooted in the aspect of its character we call inventiveness. We make things and our fellows see how those things better their lives. This is how our great enterprises have grown.
- the fact that those great enterprises fall prey to bureaucratic heavy-handedness, which diminishes the inventiveness which was at the very root of their greatness
- the fact that the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley act, which repealed some of the most restrictive aspects of the 1931 Glass-Steagall Act was in fact not responsible for the financial crash last year
A great read. It ends with a strong note of caution about our current juncture.
Mr. Dings said,
September 9, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Re: American Exceptionalism:
“The reputation which the world bestows
is like the wind that shifts now here now there,
its name changed witht he quarter whence it blows”
–Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy (c. 1310-1320)
Watch the pride levels, because we should know by now what cometh before a fall. But we can always blame someone else, of that I’m fairly certain.
Mr. Dings said,
September 9, 2009 at 9:59 pm
Why we love to love lobbiests here:
http://www.wibc.com/news/article.aspx?id=1372530
A Republican state lawmaker from Southern California resigned Wednesday amid growing outrage over a videotape that caught him bragging in graphic detail about having sex with a female lobbyist and another woman.
Assemblyman Mike Duvall, whose votes on family oriented legislation received high marks from conservative groups, said in a statement the furor over his comments had begun to divert attention from the work his fellow lawmakers were trying to finish during the final week of their session.
Duvall is married and has two adult children.
In a recording of a legislative hearing, Duvall can be heard talking about a recent sexual escapade with a woman he says is 18 years younger.
“I’m getting into spanking her,” Duvall is heard to say on the videotap