Comments on: Barnesian Economics

By: Silhouette

Silhouette — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 17:58:41 +0000

There is no such thing as a free market. Here's a little clip about how generous BigOil has been in allowing the "free market" to expand and innovate...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGRsQZx6zWA&feat...

By: sinz54

sinz54 — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 14:37:53 +0000

The reason why so many conservatives are freaking out over Obama's policies, is that he is the first President to push a doctrinaire liberal domestic program since LBJ--and the LBJ Administration was over 40 years ago.

Conservatives are just not accustomed to living under liberal policies, so it's come as quite a shock to them.

It's the dual of the hysteria I saw coming from liberals in the wake of Reagan's landslide election in 1980. Coretta Scott King claimed Reagan was going to unleash the KKK to lynch thousands of blacks. White liberals wondered when Reagan was going to start a global thermonuclear war that would destroy civilization. And so on.

I pay no attention to the hard-core ideologues. Their ideology has bent them away from objective facts.

It's one reason I am attracted to The Moderate Voice. A refreshing lack of hysteria here.

By: Don Quijote

Don Quijote — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 13:13:11 +0000

There are no truly free markets in the US,

That's not quite true. The drug market is a free market, no government regulation, low barrier to entry, many players and the price is set on the basis of supply and demand.

By: Lit3Bolt

Lit3Bolt — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 04:50:52 +0000

Goldman Sachs can pursue financial terrorism at will, but that doesn't mean Obama's ignorant, it just means he's bought like every other U.S. President.

Billions went quickly and rapidly to Goldman Sachs and others, but seem to be slow getting everywhere else. Funny, that.

By: DaGoat

DaGoat — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 04:43:43 +0000

I think Obama, like most politicians, has a relatively poor understanding of economics and relies heavily on advisers. I believe Bill Clinton had a better handle on economics than Obama does, and even he had to rely heavily on Robert Rubin.

With free markets again we're arguing about semantics. There are no truly free markets in the US, capitalism operates within the guidelines and supervision of the government. There is always pushing and shoving between free markets and government control. In Obama's care he has pushed harder than usual with respect to TARP II and the Auto bailout (Bush was responsible for TARP I of course).

To call Obama an economic illiterate is exaggeration of course coming from reliable GOP hack Fred Barnes. I think the degree to which Obama believes in capitalism is still unclear though.