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• New Stimulus Package in the Works
  fee.org > resources > new-stimulus-package-in-the-works
  FEE.org Web Bot | Thursday, October 16, 2008
  Amid fresh signs that the nation is in recession — and yet another jaw-dropping decline in the stock market — Congress is gearing up to enact a new economic stimulus plan to help ordinary Americans. (Los Angeles Times, Thursday)
  
  Maybe they don't want to learn.
  
  FEE Timely Classic
  An Unstimulating Idea by Sheldon Richman
• Fannie's CEO Took on Riskier Loans
  fee.org > resources > fannieaposs-ceo-took-on-riskier-loans
  FEE.org Web Bot | Monday, October 6, 2008
  Disregarding warnings from his managers that lenders were making too many loans that would never be repaid, [CEO Daniel Mudd] steered Fannie [Mae] into more treacherous corners of the mortgage market, according to executives. For a time, that decision proved profitable. In the end, it nearly destroyed the company and threatened to drag down the housing market and the economy. (New York Times, Sunday)
  
  The F in Fannie stands for federal.
  
  FEE Timely Classic
  Bailing Out Statism by Sheldon Richman
• The Pretense of Regulatory Knowledge
  fee.org > resources > the-pretense-of-regulatory-knowledge
  Sheldon Richman | Friday, October 3, 2008

  Advocates of the free market are sometimes parodied for their seemingly all-purpose answer to any problem: Let the market handle it. What may sound like a simplistic answer, however, is actually the most complex prescription imaginable. Ironically, those who don’t appreciate markets are in fact the ones who offer a simplistic, even empty alleged solution to economic problems: government regulation. More . . .

  ANEW article by Sheldon Richman

   

• Fed Opens Money Sluice
  fee.org > resources > fed-opens-money-sluice
  FEE.org Web Bot | Tuesday, September 30, 2008
  “The Federal Reserve and foreign central banks moved Monday to pump billions of dollars to cash-strapped banks at home and abroad in a dramatic bid to break through a credit clog and spur lending.” (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Tuesday)
  
  A fine way to protect people's wealth.
  
  FEE Timely Classic
  “Inflationism” by William H. Peterson
• The Goal Is Freedom: State Capitalism in Crisis
  fee.org > resources > the-goal-is-freedom-state-capitalism-in-crisis
  Sheldon Richman | Friday, September 26, 2008
  The transfer of risk through government privilege the removal or weakening of market discipline more than accounts for what's going on these days. What were witnessing is a crisis of state capitalism, and those with a stake in that system are desperately trying to save it. That explains the rush to a bailout. Let's hope they fail. If we want freedom, justice, and prosperity, we need a genuine free market. Accept no substitutes. More . . .

  A NEW article by Sheldon Richman

• Government Failure
  fee.org > articles > government-failure
  Sheldon Richman | Friday, September 19, 2008
  Pundits and politicians are virtually unanimous in saying today's economic turmoil is the result of a laissez-faire policy in Washington and an orgy of greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street. Laissez faire in Washington? On what planet? More . . .
   

  A NEW article by Sheldon Richman

   

• GM Wants Government Loans for High-Tech Cars
  fee.org > resources > gm-wants-government-loans-for-high-tech-cars
  FEE.org Web Bot | Thursday, September 18, 2008
  General Motors chief executive Rick Wagoner yesterday offered no guarantee that the auto giant would use American-made batteries in its new electric-powered car, the Chevrolet Volt, even as Detroit automakers pressed for $25 billion in U.S. government loans to support the development of advanced-technology vehicles in this country. (Washington Post, Thursday)
  
  If you think business favors free markets, read some history.
  
  FEE Timely Classic
  Atlas Shrugged and the Corporate State by Sheldon Richman
• Bailing Out Statism
  fee.org > resources > bailing-out-statism
  FEE.org Web Bot | Friday, September 12, 2008
  The key to understanding the saga of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — the newly nationalized twin government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) that dominate home financing — is this: They were created — intentionally — to distort the housing and mortgage markets. That is, government planners were not content to let voluntary exchange and spontaneous market forces configure those industries unmolested. So — holding the taxpayers hostage — they intervened. Make no mistake: the collapse of Fannie and Freddie is government social engineering predictably gone bad. More . . .
  

  A NEW article by Sheldon Richman
  

• Oil Revenues Pledged to End Brazilian Poverty
  fee.org > resources > oil-revenues-pledged-to-end-brazilian-poverty
  FEE.org Web Bot | Tuesday, September 9, 2008
  Brazil will use revenue from newly discovered offshore oil fields to eradicate poverty, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has vowed. In a TV address, President Lula said Brazil would not squander the money but invest in technology and education. (BBC News, Tuesday)
  
  Yeah, right.
  
  FEE Timely Classic
  Reducing Poverty through Economic Freedom by Kimani S. Njoroge
• The Bastiat Solution
  fee.org > resources > the-bastiat-solution
  Sheldon Richman | Friday, August 29, 2008
  The election season, which — sigh — is only just beginning, makes me want to reread Frederic Bastiat's The Law. It is the best antidote for the toxic demagoguery that issues forth from across the political spectrum. While the candidates are busy outcompeting one another in proposing new ways to spend our money (while promising to cut taxes), I take refuge in Bastiat's sound philosophy. Where is he when we need him? More . . .
  

  —A NEW article by Sheldon Richman