I cannot help but feel some satisfaction in watching recent event confirm the diagnosis found in my Confiscation of American Prosperity: From Right Wing Extremism and Economic Ideology to the Next Great Depression (Palgrave). The toxic combination of speculative excesses, financial deregulation, and unequal incomes, which make demand dependent on credit.
All the while, Panglossian economics insisted that this was the best of all possible worlds, except for some residues of the New Deal.
The book begins with the historical perspective that the earlier massive waves of inequality and free market dogmatism all led to disaster. This one may not become a renewal of the Great Depression. The Fed may succeed in reflating the bubble, but sooner or later the purge will occur.
I have a hard time sharing your feeling of satisfaction, Michael. I, too, have pointed out the bankruptcy of Panglossian economics. Now that the illusory bubble has burst I still don't see a stampede to your doorstep or mine. It's like the war in Iraq. Being right doesn't count for shit.
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