WHERE ARE THE LIBERTARIANS?
To be honest, I am disappointed by libertarians' lack of reaction against this recent profligate spending from the public coffer. I strongly feel that the libertarians need to come out and condemn the government's 200 billion dollar bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It's money straight out of our pockets, and out of our butler's and tailor's.
Labels: libertarianism
posted by Wavefunction at 12:05 PM
4 Comments:
Off the top of my head:
http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2008/09/mankiw_tyler_an.html
http://meganmcardle.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/fannie_mae_and_freddie_mac_too.php
It is true, though, that some libertarians are in favour of a more complete nationalisation of the FMs. This is because, it was never quite clear how private they were anyway. They were both set up by the government, and were perceived to be implicitly guaranteed by it. You cannot of course have a government default on its obligations (even if they are only implicit); this is something most people ought to agree with, even libertarians.
Fannie and Freddie were GSEs (Government Sponsored Entities)as Kunal points out. Their semi-private status existed only in name, helping nobody other than their shareholders and executives earn fat profits when times were good. Its a relief now that this charade is over and the government has accepted what the whole world knew all along that Uncle Sam, Uncle Freddie and Aunt Fannie are members of the same family.
Sadly the market doesn't seem to be that free...
No, it isn't that free. The only people who seem to be saying that we have a completely free market are those that seek to make it less so.
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