Reason.tv on the Economy

BAILING OUT THE BIG THREE

THE WASHINGTON, DC TEA PARTY

On Friday, February 27, John O'Hara of the Heartland Institute and JP Freire of The American Spectator organized a Washington, D.C. tea party to protest the runaway spending and tax hikes recently unveiled as part of Barack Obama's stimulus package and fiscal year 2010 budget.

Reason.tv's Dan Hayes was on the scene, talking with the organizers and participants about the state of the economy and how the government should respond to the recession.

LEE OHANIAN EXPLAINS THE "BAILOUT PUZZLE".

UCLA economist Lee E. Ohanian, coauthor of a startling new paper arguing that the New Deal prolonged the Great Depression by about seven years, talked with reason.tv about the past six weeks of apparent economic crisis and the government's bewildering bailout response. Ohanian's main concern, and one that is never sufficiently appreciated: "Periods of crisis often beget bad policies."

RUSSEL ROBERTS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE BAILOUT.

George Mason University economist and author Russell Roberts, who blogs at the always interesting Cafe Hayek, sat down with reason.tv to talk about the nation's shakey economy and the government's bailout plan. Watch this six-minute interview to learn where the problems came from, why the bailout won't address them, and what sort of hurt we're in for over the next several weeks, months, and years. "The real cost of this," warns Roberts, "is that we have said to people, 'Risk taking is not as risky as it used to be.' That's a mistake. It's a horrible mistake and it will lead to a lower standard of living down the road because investment will be more cavalier and less prudent."

BERT DOHMEN: A FINANCIAL ADVISOR TALKS ABOUT THE BAILOUT.

On September 30, reason.tv caught up with financial advisor Bert Dohmen, the author of Prelude to a Meltdown and Bert Dohmen's Wellington Letter. In this seven-minute video, Dohmen offered his perspective on the proposed bailout, short selling, the Federal Reserve Bank's reclassification of Goldman and Merrill Lynch as banks, and many other topics.

ARNOLD KLING: THE BIG BAILOUT

Economist Arnold Kling, who blogs at Econlog, used to work at Freddie Mac, and started Homefair.com, talks to Reason.tv about the proposed $700 bailout plan for investment banks and related firms.