From: shunkw <shunkw@sbcglobal.net>
To: shunkw <ShunkW@sbcglobal.net>
Sent: Saturday, 25 April, 2009 20:56:29
Subject: [Anti_Bush_Database] "Ladies and gentlemen, the earth just moved. From the standpoint of its intellectual underpinnings, free market conservatism is dead."
"Ladies and gentlemen, the earth just moved. From the standpoint of its intellectual underpinnings, free market conservatism is dead.
Long live the regulated economy."
Posner the hippie?
Given the dominant role played within the right wing by anti-intellectual blowhards like Rush Limbaugh, it's easy to forget that there actually are brainy conservatives — but there are. And few (if any) are brainer than Richard Posner. A judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, Posner is credited with being the most cited legal scholar of all time. No one on either side of the political divide denies his brilliance.
Staunchly conservative, Posner helped start the law and economics movement at the University of Chicago . He's published nearly 40 books in addition to numerous articles, the vast majority of which were written, at least in part, to preach the virtues of unfettered capitalism.
Posner's conservative credentials include acting as the chief intellectual defender of the Supreme Court majority in the Bush v. Gore case. Although, as a measure of the man's intellectual honesty, he couldn't quite bring himself to endorse the Court's equal protection analysis. He argued, instead, that the Court reached the right decision (from a practical standpoint), but for the wrong reason.
But it's always been in his near religious dedication to the virtues of deregulated markets that Posner's made his biggest mark.
That, however, as they say, was then. And now? Welcome Posner the "hippie":
(Huffington Post) Judge Richard Posner Questions His Free-Market Faith In "A Failure Of Capitalism"
One of the most prominent proponents of free-market capitalism is having second thoughts.
Judge Richard A. Posner, a federal appeals court judge who has been called the most cited legal scholar of all time, discussed his doubts and his analysis of the current financial crisis in a wide-ranging interview with the Huffington Post.
A longtime proponent of deregulation, the idea that business works best in a free market without burdensome government regulations, Posner began to change his mind when he realized the enormity of the crisis. This change of heart inspired him to write his upcoming book, "A Failure Of Capitalism."
Though still a believer in the virtues of capitalism, Posner now emphasizes the importance of government regulations; the need to strengthen the regulatory structure by directly funding authorities rather than the current fee-based model; the dangers of excessive executive compensation, and even expressed support for the idea of changing bankruptcy law to make it easier for homeowners who face foreclosure.
Ladies and gentlemen, the earth just moved. From the standpoint of its intellectual underpinnings, free market conservatism is dead.
Long live the regulated economy.
http://www.lastchan cedemocracycafe. com/?p=2188
Aq
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