[IP] Re: The crisis caused by bankers may take us to the edge of bankruptcy (Ireland)

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Russ Nelson <nelson@crynwr.com>
Date: October 26, 2008 6:20:20 PM EDT
To: "Ed Gerck, Ph.D." <egerck@nma.com>
Cc: Russ Nelson <nelson@crynwr.com>, dave@farber.net
Subject: Re: [IP] Re:  The crisis caused by bankers may take us to the  
edge of bankruptcy (Ireland)

Ed Gerck, Ph.D. writes:
> Russ Nelson wrote:
> > The Corporations have competitors, and their malfeasance is limited  
> > by
> > customer flight.
> >
> > The States compete with each other, and their malfeasance is  
> > limited by
> > citizen flight.
> >
> > The Federal government has almost no power to tax, and a strictly
> > limited set of powers.
> >
> > Or not.
>
> Yes, it's a clear confusion...

I apologize for being less than 100% clear.  I do believe that
corporations and states malfeasance really ARE dampened by competition
and customer / citizen flight.  I also believe that Federal government
deregulation of this process (by imposing its own inferior
regulations, e.g. the SEC) is improper, illegal, unconstitutional,
unethical and has no place in America.

The alternative to government regulation is not deregulation, or
unregulation, but is instead regulation by the choices of a free
people.  When you see a bad result: ask yourself: is this a failure of
customers to regulate corporations?  Is it a failure of citizens to
regulate states?  Or is it the federal government substituting its own
regulation for that of customers or citizens?

If you think electing Obama, or McCain, or Barr, or Nader, will change
things, ask yourself if changing the CEO of a monopoly corporation
will change the actions of that corporation.  Doesn't matter who runs
it -- it's still a monopoly.

> Still, the same principles apply. Trust cannot be induced by
> self-assertions. If I say "trust me" you still have no reason to trust
> me.

I was watching a Survivor: Guano (or whatever the current one is
called) promo, and I saw one contestant tell another one "trust me",
and I just said to myself "nooooooooooooo!"

--
--my blog is at    http://blog.russnelson.com   | Unregulation is a  
slippery
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and
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