In the midst of our economic slowdown, the U.S. Treasury Dept has issued what they are calling the "Blueprint for Financial Regulatory Reform". The highlights, as given by an article on Yahoo!'s website, are as follows:
--designate the Fed as the primary regulator for market stability, greatly expanding its ability to examine any financial institution deemed to pose a risk to the stability of the system.
--shift the functions of the Office of Thrift Supervision to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, although ultimately the plan envisions just one banking regulator.
--merge the Securities and Exchange Commission with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
--create a national regulator for insurance companies, which now are largely regulated by the states.
--establish a commission to address the abuses exposed in the current tidal wave of mortgage defaults.
An executive summary of this document obstained by the NY Times can be found here. Soliciting comments.
I like the statists' strategy! Ruin an economy using statist policies, then call for even more statist policies to clean up mess.
Don't allow leftists to play games with definitions! Some of the libertarian-leaning leftists at this forum will try to redefine "left-wing" back to its original defition (Third Estate, limited government, free-markets, laissez-faire reforms, etc.). Fine! We non-leftists can't stop them from using their own personal definitions; they can use whatever labels they want to describe any concept they want.However, they have the audacity to then use their personal definition of "left-wing" (remember, the original definition, which is no longer valid) to prove that modern leftists are more libertarian than modern rightists! They will say that libertarianism is "inherently leftist" (again, using the original, no longer valid definition), and use that to insist that we should prefer and side with modern leftists over modern rightists.
Question their motives.
We need to get more Ron Paul types out there telling the truth.
People - I want you to start writing letters to all of your legislators - your rep, your senators, and yes, your state legislators - and tell them to oppose more regulation and list the reasons why.
Contact with the local LP and the local Paulites and tell them to join in a letter-writing crusade against regulation.
I know it's low-key lobbying, but something must be done, and that can only be done grassroots, with a small "vanguard" (hate to borrow Leninist terms) leading it.
Political Atheists Blog
I was about to post about this before I noticed someone had already done so. I think this is the beginning of the end of the United States of America. They would not be trying something this radical unless there were serious issues that they believe they "cannot ignore." Of course their "solution" will only make matters worse but they understand there is a problem even if they do not understand how to handle the problem (i.e. by reducing regulations rather than creating more.)
I am an eklektarchist not an anarchist.
Educational Pamphlet Mises Group
thecapitalist: I like the statists' strategy! Ruin an economy using statist policies, then call for even more statist policies to clean up mess.
Freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength, and your money is doing just peachy as long as its value is controlled by a government-supported counterfeiter.
Pro Christo et Libertate integre!
Normally I would scoff at the arrogance of the government and be ready to hold on for the bad times ahead but this actually scares me a little. Reason being I have a different prespective since I have three small nieces and one nephew these days. It just make me more and more angry at the ignorance of the politicians and their hubris to think they can just will economic facts away. Just imagine the awesome amounts of potential wealth and opportunity the state ruined before everyone on this forum was born. Now I cannot imagine they will devoid my nieces and nephew of new opportunities just to further their parasitic careers. It is unbelievable.
Everyday I go to the Secertary of State of Massachusetts and you will not believe the amount of poor minorities, immigrants as well as the average joe white guy these government officials ruin by regulating their businesses to the ground (of course mostly small business). On top of that they charge a very high annual extortion fee just to mantain your records so they can know how much and where they can tax every penny out of you, your employees or anything else. I am so sick of this ineffectual status quo. I have no idea where to begin to make a difference. Any ideas?
Yes, vote for the statists and the government will eventually collapse or.........................?
"The plans differ; the planners are all alike"
-Bastiat
Deist: I am so sick of this ineffectual status quo. I have no idea where to begin to make a difference. Any ideas?
I am more and more of the opinion that the best way is to compete with the state. Create institions that can solve problems wihout needing to ask the state for anything. (Is agorism the term for what I mean?) We need to build these institutions NOW without waiting for the state to collapse. Doing so will create a network whereby anachocapitalists and other libertarians can ignore the state as much as humanly possible and the death of the state will not impact such people to the same degree as it will those who are less-aware of what is going on.