Raise the Hammer

Ryan >> These people did nothing wrong in your moralizing sense but are still "feeling the pain".

If you buy a house with other people's money, then you had better make sure you can pay it off. That's just life.

>> According to the Ministry of Finance, federal spending increased 4.8 percent in FY 2007-8 over FY 2006-7.

I was referring to the U.S economy. Canada has actually done much better limiting spending recently, with total government spending only up 5.6% in 2008( tinyurl.com/dcflsl ). In fact, while GDP has been flat, final domestic demand, which measures domestic consumption and strips out net exports, has done pretty well.

>> You do realize that the increase in government spending has *followed* the reduction in private spending and not the other way around, right?

Who says that governments have to borrow money to spend? What would be wrong with keeping government spending static as a percentage of the economy? Therefore if average people have to cut their spending, so should government. To argue otherwise is to give governments blank checks with taxpayers money.

>> Sorry, but the government was too busy believing, as you do, that markets are self-regulating

Markets are markets, they price goods based on supply and demand and that's it. Furthermore, I don't argue that markets are self regulating, I don't even care. If people want to buy homes for historically high prices, then I say more power to them. It's stupid, but that's what freedom is about, making decisions, both good and bad.

>> Regulations need to stay up to date with the mechanisms people use to invest money

Good luck. If you think that people who work for the government are as smart as those in the private sector you're dreaming. Furthermore, politicians are easily swayed by campaign contributions, etc. Just Google Chris Dodd if you need a primer.

>> It's the shadow banking system you champion that has gone into collapse, taking much of the real economy down with it.

The "real economy" was duped by their own greed. If they hadn't placed such large bets on the real estate market, they would have been fine. They made stupid decisions and now they will suffer.

>> Moral suasion never works. If you want to stop bubbles, you do so with effective regulations and macroeconomic policy. The history of modern economics proves this conclusively.

How about the truth. If Barney Frank had come on T.V and warned people not to buy homes after 2004, he could have helped stop the bubble, but he did the complete opposite.