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• Sunday, October 5, 2008 07:05 AM

  Kovie

  It is as impossible to give examples of completely free markets as it is to give examples of "pure" communism. Free markets could only exist without government. And we all need government, right? Well, whether we do or not, it has always existed.

  I understand that you are currently ensconced in a polemic screaming match with heru ur (forgive spelling), but could you explain exactly how the entire US economy was "de-regulated," and when? Because I once attempted to file a complaint about the practices of a local corporate bank with some federal agency, and I found about four or five large federal "alphabet soup" agencies dedicated to the various workings of the banking/finance sector. I remember the SEC, the FDIC, and the FTC right off the top of my head.

  Contained on the websites of all these federal agencies are many, many pages of regulations.

  I never did figure out exactly where to send my simple citizens' complaint about one dishonest bank.

  On the other hand, I've heard that the Great Depression came close to commencing in 1927, rather than 1929, but the markets were allowed to correct themselves. I've heard arguments that it was exactly because the government intervened in the next recession that the problems were greatly exacerbated.

  I'm no economist, so perhaps you can explain all of these things to me.

  —Cosmo Guzzardi Read Cosmo Guzzardi's other letters
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