I'm surprised our resident forum conservatives aren't foaming at the mouth over this? Where's the outrage from everyone who believes that markets need unregulated laizes faire capitalism? For the government to but out and let business run efficiently?

Did anyone notice how terrified Bear Stearns wasn't when Ben Bernake said "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help you."

Its hard to know how to feel about it all. Bailouts suck. Nobody bailed out those with stock losses in the dot com bust, yet we bailed out the airlines after the 9-11 attacks essentially flushed the industry down the toilet. Now we are busy trying to bail out homeowners and institutional lenders because their giant ponzi scheme threatens to badly damage the U.S. economy. It probably makes sense for the Government to step in when our economy is threatened. I suppose it supports the Republican viewpoint that free markets do need some regulation and, at the same time, discredits the Libertarian philosophy of people like Ron Paul. A little regulation , at least in this case, would certainly have been preferable to the bailout.

For those interested in a Cliff notes version of what went wrong, CNN has a decent summary piece that has been airing with some regularity.

Originally Posted by cbwm

I suppose it supports the Republican viewpoint that free markets do need some regulation and, at the same time, discredits the Libertarian philosophy of people like Ron Reagan.

Who was that imminently famous Republican who said the most frightening words that could ever be said were "I'm from the government and I'm here to help"?

Anyway, it's good to see Republicans repudiating this core Republican belief. It suggests that maybe society is ready to move forward. That one quote being responsible for all opposition to Hillary Care, we can move on and talk about which parts are good ideas and which ones need to be left on the cutting room floor?

Originally Posted by Learning Newbie

Anyway, it's good to see Republicans repudiating this core Republican belief. It suggests that maybe society is ready to move forward. That one quote being responsible for all opposition to Hillary Care, we can move on and talk about which parts are good ideas and which ones need to be left on the cutting room floor?

Regarding Hillary care, it all needs to be left on the cutting room floor. Regarding Core Republican beliefs, I believe it is Mr. Bush who is introducing the restructuring of the Fed to bring additional regulation to our Financial markets. According to Democrats, he represented all that was wrong with Republicans. As I mentioned, I think you have Republicans confused with Libertarians.