Check Out John Stossel's New Blog

Nick Gillespie | June 17, 2009

The libertarian host of ABC News' 20/20, John Stossel, has a newish blog out that is a great source if you trade in Free Minds and Free Markets. A recent snippet:

At my Princeton Reunion a few weeks ago, I participated in a panel called Wall Street, K Street, and the New Regulatory Era. Of course the panel turned out to be: 4 lawyers plus me. All the lawyers explained why my pro-free market argument was naïve. The lawyer to my right, Beth Wilkinson, not just a Washington lawyer, but the wife of Meet the Press host David Gregory, even personalized her argument by saying "John" while trashing the deregulation I championed.

It was all in good fun, however, and today it was more fun to discover that a few days later, one member of the audience, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, talking about hedge funds and private equity funds, said: "I do not believe they need to be so closely supervised and regulated as depository institutions. A presumption of government protection and support for financial institutions outside the "safety net" should be avoided."

I'd also like to remind the eager-to-regulate crowd that when the market tanked, the highly regulated banks suffered most. When their market capitalization was down about 50%, I remember that the unregulated hedge funds were only down about 18%. So why is regulation always the "solution?"

More like that here.

Stossel teamed up with Reason.tv to make the recent special Bailouts & Bull. Get a whiff below.

Watch the whole show here.

Comments

Seward|6.17.09 @ 3:35PM|#

Why isn't it naive to think that government regulation is the solution? After all, regulation has a very poor track record.

Alan Vanneman|6.17.09 @ 4:00PM|#

You lost me at "At my Princeton reunion ..."

|6.17.09 @ 4:21PM|#

An eagle could land on his mustache!

|6.17.09 @ 4:31PM|#

An eagle could land on his mustache!

Causing him to suspend bitching about frivolous lawsuits just long enough to file one against the eagle.

But he'd come to regret it later.

|6.17.09 @ 4:32PM|#

An eagle could land on his mustache!

My eyes well up with patriotic tears at the very thought of it.

MaryJane Cannabian|6.17.09 @ 4:44PM|#

I'm so thankful that you have brought attention to the Charlie Lynch / Owen Beck stories, keep up the press about the utter failure of the War on People! (or as Gov likes to say, the War on Drugs)

|6.17.09 @ 5:40PM|#

So why is regulation always the "solution?

When your only tool is a hammer...

Helper|6.17.09 @ 10:32PM|#

John Stossel is hiding something. He just seems to be hiding something. It's a gut thing.

Art-P.O.G.|6.18.09 @ 5:12AM|#

John Stossel is hiding something. He just seems to be hiding something. It's a gut thing.

That he's one of the ten clones of Freddie Mercury dispatched after the death of Mercury Prime with one goal and only one...WORLD DOMINATION!?

|6.18.09 @ 11:03PM|#

Maybe you should ask the Californians about deregulation. They'll be happy to tell you how well it worked with Enron.