Gershon, if there have never been free markets, how does anyone know that they will work? Isn`t that like believing in the Moshiah/Messiah/twelfth Imam/Jim Jones/etc? I won`t deny anyone their religion; I only ask that they don`t try to force me to live by it.
The historical record, however, is full of free market catastrophes and subsequent Depressions: one doesn`t have to read "Menahim Mendl" of Sholem Aleichem to see that, but at least that is a fictitious version that doesn`t affect our investments, and so may be easier to absorb. You may then wish to go to the more serious literature, starting with Kindleberger`s Manias, Panics, and Crashes. See Amazon for others
Boris, I disagree: the success of US markets was due to the promise of continuous profits and interventions - in other words, to human greed and stupidity- to prevent them from falling. So that nobody had to shoulder responsibility for mistakes. Markets have always been ruled by fraud and greed. |
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