Government isn’t the answer

Re “Fiscal foolishness,” Opinion, Nov. 12

The problem is that Robert Kuttner advocates the real “failed fantasy” that government intervention in the market is beneficial. He perpetuates the myth that the 1920s bubble leading to the stock market crash and the Depression were due to laissez-faire abuses. However, a growing body of economic theory recognizes that the real cause of the crash and the Depression was the creation of the Federal Reserve system in 1913 and its subsequent credit expansion.

Kuttner’s fantasy is refuted by the Austrian School of Economics, in particular by Murray Rothbard in his analysis of depressions throughout American history.

A current presidential candidate, Republican Rep. Ron Paul, knows Austrian economics and has been predicting our economic crisis for decades. Voters would do well to investigate Paul and the Austrian School as a healthy antidote to Kuttner’s fantasy.

Stan Warford

Malibu

“Fiscal foolishness” is an apt headline for an article presenting the Federal Reserve and Congress as our economic saviors. Kuttner downplays the Fed’s role in exacerbating booms and busts. Waxing nostalgic over the Depression, he is obviously a die-hard New Dealer for whom any suggestion that the government prolonged or made things worse would surely fall on deaf ears. My grandfather survived the Depression. (Sadly, he won’t likely survive the New Deal.) Most of his savings languish in a bank account paying interest that doesn’t nearly make up for the declining dollar. Laissez-faire capitalists and libertarians are not the ones debasing the currency.

Sure, a government can “fix” an economy -- if by fix, you mean destroy.

Edward Bowers

Sherman Oaks