Comments on: "Greed" Is Not an Explanation http://cafehayek.com/2008/10/greed-is-not-an.html where orders emerge Mon, 16 Jan 2012 02:06:33 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: iamse7en http://cafehayek.com/2008/10/greed-is-not-an.html/comment-page-2#comment-182477 iamse7en Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:47:00 +0000 http://localhost/wordpress/?p=2954#comment-182477 This is always my favorite point to make when someone blames the CITIZENS (or those who took the mortgages, those who took cheap money, etc) not government, for the financial crisis. This is always my favorite point to make when someone blames the CITIZENS (or those who took the mortgages, those who took cheap money, etc) not government, for the financial crisis.

]]> By: Randy http://cafehayek.com/2008/10/greed-is-not-an.html/comment-page-1#comment-32039 Randy Sun, 05 Oct 2008 12:19:54 +0000 http://localhost/wordpress/?p=2954#comment-32039 <p>I think that the minds behind the propaganda that folks like Muirgeo keep spouting recognize that Libertarianism is a real threat. That's why they spend so much time attacking a system that they themselves admit does not exist. The threat from libertarians is not that we will take over the government. It is that a significant percentage of the population will simply ignore the government. When the faith dies, they die. </p> I think that the minds behind the propaganda that folks like Muirgeo keep spouting recognize that Libertarianism is a real threat. That's why they spend so much time attacking a system that they themselves admit does not exist. The threat from libertarians is not that we will take over the government. It is that a significant percentage of the population will simply ignore the government. When the faith dies, they die.

]]> By: Sam Grove http://cafehayek.com/2008/10/greed-is-not-an.html/comment-page-1#comment-32038 Sam Grove Sun, 05 Oct 2008 11:16:52 +0000 http://localhost/wordpress/?p=2954#comment-32038 <p><i>failed economy resulting from a failed ideology you support</i></p> <p>To suggest that the current political/economic system is in anyway the product of libertarian ideology is purest nonsense and totally representative of how leftists/socialists/progressives blatantly misrepresent the state of affairs for political purposes.</p> <p>It almost as bad as how the right/Republican cadre passes itself off as pro free market/limited government advocates.</p> failed economy resulting from a failed ideology you support

To suggest that the current political/economic system is in anyway the product of libertarian ideology is purest nonsense and totally representative of how leftists/socialists/progressives blatantly misrepresent the state of affairs for political purposes.

It almost as bad as how the right/Republican cadre passes itself off as pro free market/limited government advocates.

]]> By: Sam Grove http://cafehayek.com/2008/10/greed-is-not-an.html/comment-page-1#comment-32037 Sam Grove Sun, 05 Oct 2008 11:11:09 +0000 http://localhost/wordpress/?p=2954#comment-32037 <p><i>I'm glad Steve Jobs was greedy because PC's suck.</i></p> <p>That's an emotive assessment. For one thing, Microsoft does not make PCs. I have built my own PCs and none of the hardware is made by Microsoft. One benefit of the PC industry is that it is relatively easy and inexpensive for me to upgrade my system. When you buy a Mac, you are virtually locked in to everything being made by a vertical monopoly.</p> <p><i>It got a Libertarian head of the Fed,</i></p> <p>Where, who, I haven't seen any libertarians at the head of the Fed.</p> <p>You still have no idea what constitutes a "libertarian". Just as you have no comprehension of the moral nature of political power, just as you have no idea what "the market" is.</p> <p><i> it got the government to the the peoples money to make mortgage backed securities, it got the government to loosen lending standards, it got the government to allow its securities to be unregulated, it got private rating agencies to falsely rate their unregulated securities and accounting agencies/ audit agencies to look the other way.</i></p> <p>If you want to keep business out of government, you have to keep government out of business.</p> <p>Repeat til it sinks through the molasses of your mind.</p> I'm glad Steve Jobs was greedy because PC's suck.

That's an emotive assessment. For one thing, Microsoft does not make PCs. I have built my own PCs and none of the hardware is made by Microsoft. One benefit of the PC industry is that it is relatively easy and inexpensive for me to upgrade my system. When you buy a Mac, you are virtually locked in to everything being made by a vertical monopoly.

It got a Libertarian head of the Fed,

Where, who, I haven't seen any libertarians at the head of the Fed.

You still have no idea what constitutes a "libertarian". Just as you have no comprehension of the moral nature of political power, just as you have no idea what "the market" is.

it got the government to the the peoples money to make mortgage backed securities, it got the government to loosen lending standards, it got the government to allow its securities to be unregulated, it got private rating agencies to falsely rate their unregulated securities and accounting agencies/ audit agencies to look the other way.

If you want to keep business out of government, you have to keep government out of business.

Repeat til it sinks through the molasses of your mind.

]]> By: Brooks Wilson http://cafehayek.com/2008/10/greed-is-not-an.html/comment-page-1#comment-32036 Brooks Wilson Sun, 05 Oct 2008 10:48:11 +0000 http://localhost/wordpress/?p=2954#comment-32036 <p>Don,<br /> I enjoyed your letter, and agree with your treatment of greed as a constant. I will link it to the website I maintain for students. I believe that the distrust of greed, or self interest, as a motive is at the heart of the first of Bryan Caplan’s four biases, anti-market bias. <br /> I ask my students if they really believe that oil company executives, or bankers are any greedier than in the past, or if they are likely to be less greedy in the future. If not, what changes in markets or market structure changed to make their greed manifest. In the case of oil, the change was probably increasing demand. In the case of the home loan market, it was probably changes in regulatory structure pushing loans to individuals in underserved areas, and perhaps one of Taleb’s Black Swans, leading investment bankers that had never seen a decline in housing prices to believe that one never would occur. <br /> </p> Don,
I enjoyed your letter, and agree with your treatment of greed as a constant. I will link it to the website I maintain for students. I believe that the distrust of greed, or self interest, as a motive is at the heart of the first of Bryan Caplan’s four biases, anti-market bias.
I ask my students if they really believe that oil company executives, or bankers are any greedier than in the past, or if they are likely to be less greedy in the future. If not, what changes in markets or market structure changed to make their greed manifest. In the case of oil, the change was probably increasing demand. In the case of the home loan market, it was probably changes in regulatory structure pushing loans to individuals in underserved areas, and perhaps one of Taleb’s Black Swans, leading investment bankers that had never seen a decline in housing prices to believe that one never would occur.

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