This Is What Happens When Free Markets Fail

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You miss the point of the article.
Newman is not lauding government intervention, or saying regulation always produces the desired result.
He is saying that until we, as humans, can effectively manage our greed, free markets are doomed to fail without intervention.

Nonebroker of ID 2:16PM December 28, 2009

If this is "what happens when free markets fail" then what was the collapse of Soviet Russia? How are things in communist Cuba right now? The problem is government interference dating back to the 1920s. Government interference turned the depression into the Great Depression. Government interference (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) caused the collapse of the housing market...because "everyone deserves a house" regardless of whether or not you could pay for it. Let the free market work, and it will work.
Now with this new health care bill (which is completely Unconstitutional, for the record) we as Americans are being forced by the government to purchase health insurance. If the federal government created a bill that said, "Since GM is struggling, all Americans must purchase at least 1 GM car every 4 years" people would be up in arms...but this is okay?
You're insane, and should live in a country without a free market so that you can actually get the experience for yourself.

You are nuts of OH 11:29AM December 28, 2009

I agree with you Ed Aylward. It's almost like that Twilight Zone episode where the guy keeps getting hanged and when he comes back the actors are the same but all in different roles.

Charlie T of NJ 9:59AM December 28, 2009

yep

bob villa of MA 8:30PM December 26, 2009

The banking and health care debacles have more to do with government interference than free market failure. Fannie and Freddie are quasi government agencies that took a lot of the perceived risk out of the CDO's that got the banks in trouble. Not the real risk, the perceived risk. The Federal Reserve created the excess money found a home in these instruments. As far as health care, the problem starts with a tax code that rewards employer provided health care. We would spend a lot less on health care if the subsidies were taken from the corporations and given to the general public to purchase insurance for their family unit. The market would come up with more plans to fit individual family units instead of one size fits all.
No law that these "geniuses" in Washington can come up with is as fair or as true as the law of supply and demand. Take the government involvement out of the mortgage market and you don't have a housing market that bubbles the way it did. Give family units the responsibility for purchasing health insurance and a lot less money gets thrown into health care. Mr. Newman, you could not be more wrong.

dkov of IL 11:31AM December 16, 2009

When these bums leave the govt to move into the private sector who do you think hires them? The defense industry hires former higher ups from the military as an interface between the govt and the military. The Fda hires former big pharm exe's who work to protect us from the industry they come from. There is no free market all markets are subject to the greed and cheaters that compose them. Private sector or Govt. all work to make sure the majority of money stays where they want it in their hands. We spend trillions of dollare on wars that solve nothing despite what the govts rational is and yet we struggle to provide for the elderly in this country. Ever had a loved one in a nursing home? I spent nearly half a million with no aid and yet we never address the real threats at home only the boggy men of the middle east. Who profits from these war's. WE all know that ansewer. Greed is the thing that will never let the free market ever work, the deck is stacked so far against the small guy he can't even play the game

Ed Aylward of IL 8:38AM December 16, 2009

I agree with about 90% of what you said, but as one of those gun totin' redneck, stupid conservatives, I just can't stop thinkin' about them Capitol Hill types and their part in all this...you know, good 'ole Barney and Harry and Nancy and the Dems that have been in charge for the past 3 years - the same Dems that stymied any attempts at controlling Freddie and Fanny....those folks. The forgotten heroes and champions of this whole mess. The same heroes and champions that have very successfully managed to lay this all off on that evil monster Bush and his brown shirted thugs. You know, the guys that REALLY had all the power....I mean, those 20 or so guys and gals were really in charge, right? Not Congress....not the Dems.
Fact is, while your point is well taken that government wouldn't have to intervene if free enterprise were perfect, government intervention and design was truly the root cause and is prolonging this entire mess. FDR and the congress of the 30's and 40's didn't fix the depression, by the way, he prolonged it. The war and war production fixed it.
This administration and congress isn't fixing this mess, they are making it exponentially worse. When these bums are out in the private sector where they belong, I think things will become a bit more clear for you. Won't be long; elections are right around the corner.

Paul of TX 10:09AM December 15, 2009

Thank you for the simple wisdom in your article. Hang in there. The true believers are coming after you. You just know that those "regulators" are only up to "evil" -- well, why don't you just leave the country if you even dare to speak such heresy? You really aren't one of "us" anyway are you? You're just another Commie (do you even go to church?).
Oh boy. Willful blindness plagues our society. Thank God for the little bit of democracy that we do have. What a bunch of demented, sore losers these jokers are!
They've never seen a tax they liked -- unless it supported a war they wanted, or the highway that they used to get the hell out of town, or the basic utilities they happily consume, or.....(it's a long list). Surprise: we've always had one form or another of government-enabled enterprise in our country. For the past 150 years its largely been socialism for the Rich. Even though FDR saved American-style corporate Capitalism, he is hated by most so-called "free marketers" who wouldn't know a real free market if they saw one (hint: they don't exist anywhere in the world except in their fantasies). Plus, they wouldn't want to live in one for long since unaccountable _private_ sources of power would soon turn such a society into a gangster's paradise.
Good luck holding onto your job as a columnist. Stay the course. These whackos are going to try to silence you. Though they claim to believe in our democratic institutions, as soon as they lose an election and public policy doesn't go their way, watch out - they show up wearing guns, making death threats, disrupting public forums...remember what I said about gangsterism? Hang in there.

Fed up with the "outraged" of KS 8:47PM December 07, 2009

Rick, have we forgotten the original reason that banks crumbled and the housing market failed?! Remember A.C.O.R.N. Fanny Maye, Freddy Mack ?! A.C.O.R.N. started as a small government regulatory pea pod. Acorn grew into a huge government bully that threatened banks to go against their tried and true system of loaning money, that is, don't lend money to people who cannot pay you back, or simply will not. Believe me, I'm not rich, but, I feel the free market system has served America well for over 200 years. Sure, business will fail, but, another will take over in its place, usually on a smaller scale, hire people, grow, and hire more people. With all due respect Rick, it seems you are on the fence when it comes to government regulation VS free market. These regulatory agencies have been doing their evil deeds for, at least, three decades and with taxpayer money.

Jack of MI 11:35AM December 04, 2009