Hutton\’s at it again:
I don\’t know whether any economist who believes that markets are rational and incapable of making systemic mistakes still exists.
Don\’t be bloody stupid. No one says that markets don\’t make mistakes. Rather, the thought is that markets correct mistakes faster than any other method of running things.
But markets are very, very stupid. Thank God we have governments.
Governments are more stupid than markets is the point there.
That would be the government’s who…
– Did there best to keep interest rates below where they should be,
– Pushed lenders to give money to risky customers,
– Created ineffective regulatory systems,
– Pushed local government to invest in Iceland
etc
Hutton probably believes that financial markets are unregulated. Probably never heard of:
Sarbanes-Oxley
Basel II
MiFid and other EU directives
the fact that central banks are state bodies
Freddie and Fannie
I could go on, but every time the name Will Hutton comes up, I lose the will to live…