China, the European Union, the United States and South Korea.
These are four examples of just how poorly researched Brandon Sack's July 24 column was in proposing that "deregulation led to [an] economic hangover." It should be assumed that, speaking as an Alligator columnist, you need to do some kind of research before writing. Laissez-faire economics did not single-handedly create the Great Depression, as you seem to purport in your column. The tariffs and social programs in the 1930s did not dig us out of that hole either. Indeed, Mr. Sack, among us "boring" economists, you will be much more likely to find a consensus agreeing that socialist programs and tariffs did much to deepen and lengthen the global depression of the 1930s than you will to find one claiming that prosperity in Western Europe, the U.S. and others was just a dream and what we really need is government regulation so that people won't make stupid mistakes. The history of economic growth has been the history of tearing down walls, Mr. Sack, not hiding behind them when things get scary.
The recognized boundaries of market regulation are as follows: money supply control, anti-trust legislation and property protection. Telling Americans they are too immature to be held responsible for signing thousands of adjustable rate loans when fixed ones were available (or not taking a risky loan in the first place) is not a way to improve the economy. Why should we elect a president who assumes we are too childish to sleep in the bed we made?
Please, Mr. Sack, we are all adults here.
