Originally Posted by NW Ponderer
Originally Posted by Senator Hatrack
What was the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 if not government intervention? As the article states the effects of the tariff and government regulations on banks which created banks to have bad policies caused the Great Depression. To a certain extent banks must engage in speculation. If they didn't they wouldn't make any loans.
A couple of opinion interjections:

1) Yes, Smoot-Hawley was government intervention after the fact, as was were the creation of the FDIC, NCUA, and the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008. Not all government intervention is a bad thing.
The Smoot-Hawley Act was not government intervention after the fact. As the bill went through Congress it had a negative effect on our economy. And no not all government intervention is bad. But when our elected officials abdicate their responsibility in order to ensure their reelection and create large unaccountable bureaucracies government interventions are usually bad.
Originally Posted by NW Ponderer
2) The assertion that "government regulations on banks which [caused] banks to have bad policies" - well, that is such an counterintuitive assertion that it will require more explanation. Let me put a bookmark in here, I'll label it "bunk" for the meantime... (not yours, theirs). It's like the canard that "Clinton caused the Great Recession," which is demonstrably false. Banks make bad decisions. Usually, like other bad financial decisions, it is based upon greed and/or corruption. The GD was no exception.
OH, so all government regulations do not and never have caused those who regulated to create bad policies? The government regulations banning branch banking were a contributing factor in causing the Great Depression. Who is talking about "bunk" now? It isn't me.

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