tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post4636784431641933698..comments2023-10-31T03:18:26.963-07:00Comments on Great Guys Weblog: Lawrence Reed on The Great DepressionBrethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15063508651955739056noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post-7482507420483437172008-05-10T13:33:00.000-07:002008-05-10T13:33:00.000-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.joe shropshirehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12183662262318452612noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post-1193905901705103732008-05-10T12:51:00.000-07:002008-05-10T12:51:00.000-07:00No, the markets were operating as Hoover wanted an...No, the markets were operating as Hoover wanted and expected them to operate.<BR/><BR/>It is not widely understood that Hoover's fortune derived from shady market operations. Sir Robert Hart, the inspector general of customs in Imperial China, considered him an out-and-out crook.<BR/><BR/>Hoover's troubles were not the result of some inadvertent ripple in otherwise handy markets -- what my physics adviser calls a Selden-crisis after the fictional Harry Selden. They were built-in <BR/>parts of the system, and Hoover's secretary of the Treasury, Mellon, notoriously welcomed the break.Harry Eagarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04196202758858876402noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post-42179225090811192202008-05-08T08:03:00.000-07:002008-05-08T08:03:00.000-07:00"Markets fail."No kidding. Both bloggers here at ..."<I>Markets fail.</I>"<BR/><BR/>No kidding. Both bloggers here at this blog and probably all of the other readers here understand that markets sometimes fail so it's neither an enlightening nor interesting statement.<BR/><BR/>It's not a useful statement either because everything fails. Cars fail and we still drive cars. Airplanes fall out of the sky and yet we still fly in them. Heck, crops fail, but we still plant 'em and rely on them for food. So markets fail, but that in no way doesn't mean we ought to forego using them.<BR/><BR/>On the other side of the coin, Howard and I DO support certain types of government intervention in markets. It's true that we don't support government interventions in markets very often, but we're not so ideologically rigid as to reject all interventions out-of-hand.<BR/><BR/>The market obviously did fail during the great depression. The questions that are being examined in these last three posts by Howard are why did the market fail and why did it fail so badly and take so long to recover? The government could probably have intervened in positive ways. The question is whether or not those interventions were positive or whether mistakes were made. The last three posts provided an alternate viewpoint that questions the policies and actions of the Hoover and Roosevelt administrations. Surely you can at least agree that Hoover made some mistakes?Brethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15063508651955739056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post-18826533729429121542008-05-08T03:37:00.000-07:002008-05-08T03:37:00.000-07:00Taxes were extremely low in 1932.And, besides, the...Taxes were extremely low in 1932.<BR/><BR/><BR/>And, besides, there had been liquidity catastrophes in, eg, 1837 when there weren't any taxes at all.<BR/><BR/>Markets fail.Harry Eagarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04196202758858876402noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post-88591623283666079162008-05-07T21:31:00.000-07:002008-05-07T21:31:00.000-07:00Liquidity's hard to find if you tax and confiscate...Liquidity's hard to find if you tax and confiscate every dollar that moves.Brethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15063508651955739056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5806884.post-87184549968315182082008-05-07T15:19:00.000-07:002008-05-07T15:19:00.000-07:00Then why did solvent banks close?The problem was n...Then why did solvent banks close?<BR/><BR/>The problem was not insolvency although that was certainly a problem.<BR/><BR/>The problem was illiquidity.Harry Eagarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04196202758858876402noreply@blogger.com