Not to me it doesn't. It's just apologetics for unbridled capitalism.
Where was this even slightlly mentioned in the article? It describes pre-War Nazi Germany.
Laissez faire and a lack of regulation was what got us in the CDS mess, because gov't bureaucrats didn't understand the derivatives they were supposed to be regulating, investment banks 'agency shopped' for the most clueless agency to (not) regulate them, and there was no exchange to see such transactions, so even those who were entering into these contracts had no idea how intertwined everything was.
The problem with CDS's is due to accounting standards, not regulations. Yes, accounting needs to be changed. Investment banks didn't agency shop over CDS's. These were issued by insurance companies and hedge funds. Oh, and by the way, have you heard about government sponsored rating agencies like S&P, Moody's and Fitch? Why are sell side credit agencies doing the ratings (hint, Uncle Sam). Seems like a conflict of interest, no? A few questions for you:
1. What were they buying CDS's on?
2. Do you think the FED lowering interest rates to 1% had anything to do with the MBS explosion?
3. Do you think the Fed then raising interest rate 500% had anything to do with the bubble popping?
4. Do you think Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae issuing $5 Trillion in agency debt have anything to do with the housing bubble?
You are in a false dichotomy. Yes, accounting standards need an overhaul. As far as regulations, they failed us. There were tons of regulations already on the books that were not enforced. More regulation will not solve a thing. The elephant in the bath tub is the Federal Government and its responsibility for 95% of this catastrophe.
That being said, regulations aren't always a bad thing. In order to do business in this country there are all sort of laws and regulations one must obey, and taxes, worker's comp and social security one must pay or collect.
You are swatting at a straw man.
All business owners tell you they're put upon, especially the smallish ones that fancy themselves the rugged individualist entrepeneur or one of them that's read a little Ayn Rand. They'll tell you they're spending all their time complying with stuff, but it's garbage.
True. What we do is hire accountants and lawyers to handle it all then pass on the price to you, the consumer.
Anyway, banks are (hopefully) about to fall under a bit more scrutiny (again), hopefully a framework a little bit more Glass-Steagall-esque among other things.
And that will prevent the Fed from lowering interest rates to 0% again? Oh, yeah, they did lower again. And look, the stock market has reinflated into a new bubble, going up 45% in a few months. Hmm, the P/E ratio is over 100. This will end well! Unless you understand the root cause, you will never escape this cycle of boom/bust, until it destroys the country.
Don't buy the whining, they're just in spin mode, paying their lobbyists, making donations to think tanks, etc. etc. to advocate their position.
Who is "they"? Are you saying that Lew Rockwell advocates businesses using lobbyists or that he advocates bail outs?
I'm not saying we should shaft them, just that they shafted themselves, and if they want help (and they did and got it), there's a string attached.
No, the Fed, FNM, and FRE shafted this country. I'll give you another example. Everyone is worried because the FED bought $300 Billion in Federal debt, however the fact that they purchased over $1 Trillion in Fannie and Freddie debt is never mentioned in the MSM.
