One Of Three Economics Nobel Prize Laureates Of 2013
Just in case, the reader is not familiar with Eugene Fama.
Self-Professed Libertarian
Prof. Fama stated that “Well, I’m an extreme libertarian, but I realize we’re in a democracy, and in a democracy people can have views of all stripes and there’s no reason to argue about it.” in an interview with the New York Times dated 10/26/2013 (here).
In that same interview he praised Hayek’s book Road to Serfdom. To quote “What Hayek is basically saying is that to the extent you let government take over economic activity you’re basically giving up freedom, and I think that’s a point Milton Friedman made quite emphatically throughout his lifetime. I consider myself closer to Milton in my thinking than to anybody else. And Milton was also an enthusiastic libertarian.”.
Prof. Fama also stated “I think we need Social Security, things like that.” Uh, any classical liberal would raise their eyebrows and dismiss him!
“[Q:] In the financial crisis, do you think the government should have bailed out the big banks?
[Fama] No, I don’t. I would’ve favored nationalizing the banks, not bailing them out.
[Q;] Really? That’s not very libertarian, is it?
[Fama] Well, we’re talking about realistic alternatives. It’s not credible that in a financial crisis, the government will do nothing. It never has. There are going to be demands for it to do something. So you’ve got two choices now. Nationalize them or bail them out. Bailing them out gives them terrible disincentives; it encourages them to take risks because they’ll be bailed out. So I’d nationalize them — and clean them up and then reprivatize them.”
Prof. Fama is a phony libertarian at best. Who would be this benevolent executor of such a plan? Prof. Fama himself? Why does Prof. Fama think that government would do a better job than free markets to clean up and reprivatize bankrupted banks and their assets?
Does Prof. Fama Speak With Two Tongues?
I love people who make such boisterous claims.
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