Deregulation 01

Think Tanks - They Don’t Think They Justify

Milton Friedman - Deregulation

Milton Friedman opposed government regulation of many types. Friedman's political philosophy, which he considered classically liberal and libertarian, emphasized the advantages of free market economics and the disadvantages of government intervention and regulation, strongly influencing the opinions of American conservatives and libertarians. Friedman's methodological innovations held wide acceptance among economists, but some who? Considered his policy prescriptions controversial. Most economists during the 1960s rejected them, but since then they have had an increasing international influence (especially in the USA and Britain). Some of his laissez-faire ideas concerning monetary policy, taxation, privatization and deregulation were used by governments, especially during the 1980s.

Keynesian Criticisms

After Friedman's death, Keynesian Nobel laureate Paul Krugman, while regarding Friedman as a "great economist and a great man," criticized him during 2007 by writing that "he slipped all too easily into claiming both that markets always work and that only markets work. It's extremely hard to find cases in which Friedman acknowledged the possibility that markets could go wrong, or that government intervention could serve a useful purpose." During the Financial crisis of 2007–2010, several Keynesian economists such as James Galbraith and Joseph Stiglitz blamed the free market philosophy of Friedman and the Chicago school for the economic turmoil. In response to these criticisms, University of Chicago Magazine noted that Chicago's Rajan, Thaler, and Vishney warned the US government that regulations are needed and, “The Chicago School never said we wanted blind deregulation.

Other Criticisms

In her book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, writer Naomi Klein accused Friedman of complicity in military coups in countries such as Chile and Indonesia, which she claims "shocked" their populations into accepting neoliberal reforms for the benefit of foreign multinational companies. Chilean economist Orlando Letelier similarly asserted that repression was necessary to implement Chicago School policies in Chile.

No Logo

In 2000, Klein published the book No Logo, which for many became a manifesto of the anti-corporate globalization movement. In it, she attacks brand-oriented consumer culture by describing the operations of large corporations. She also accuses several such corporations of unethically exploiting workers in the world's poorest countries in pursuit of greater profits. In this book, Klein criticized Nike so severely that Nike published a point-by-point response to perceived inaccuracies. No Logo became an international bestseller, selling over one million copies in over 28 languages.

Many anti-globalization activists generally call for forms of global integration that better provide democratic representation, advancement of human rights, fair trade and sustainable development and therefore feel the term "anti-globalization" is misleading

The "anti-globalization movement" is a term used to describe the political group who oppose the neoliberal version of globalization, while criticisms of globalization are some of the reasons used to justify this group's stance.

Economic Regulation

The economics of imposing or removing regulations relating to markets is analysed in regulatory economics.

Some economists, such as Nobel prize-winning economist Milton Friedman as well as those of the Austrian School, have sought substantially to limit economic regulation.

The Spill, The Scandal and the President

The President acknowledged that his administration had failed to adequately reform the Minerals Management Service, the scandal-ridden federal agency that for years had essentially allowed the oil industry to self-regulate.

Instead of cracking down on MMS, as he had vowed to do even before taking office, Obama left in place many of the top officials who oversaw the agency's culture of corruption. He permitted it to rubber-stamp dangerous drilling operations by BP – a firm with the worst safety record of any oil company – with virtually no environmental safeguards, using industry-friendly regulations drafted during the Bush years.

During the Bush administration there was continuing debate over whether the administration was incompetent or really intended the horrific results it brought us. To anyone with any depth of knowledge, it was apparent that the latter was true. Recently, there has been much concern over the political incompetence of the Obama administration.

"Get This Lady Off Our Backs" Brooksley Born - The Warning