Here’s a letter that I sent last week to the Baltimore Sun:
Rena Steinzor blames today’s financial unrest on "knee-jerk opposition
to federal regulation" ("Reviving regulation," Sept. 28”). Her
solution, of course, is greater government involvement in the economy.
But
on the very same op-ed page, Cynthia Tucker put part of the blame
(rightly so) on George W. Bush: "The White House bragged on programs to
make borrowing easy, including an initiative to allow the Federal
Housing Administration to insure mortgages for first-time homebuyers
without a down payment" ("Minorities a convenient scapegoat for U.S.
financial woes").
Clearly, the only knees jerking of late are
not those of conservative politicians opposing government intrusion
into markets but, rather, of persons such as Prof. Steinzor who lazily
assume that laissez faire has been the order of the day.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
George Mason University
Share
