Joe Mac
Arch Winning (36)
It's odd that "free marketers" which would normally be considered socially conservative have such anarchistic tendencies eg deregulation.
Does that not just indicate blind self interest, devoid of any political belief?
deregulation is a very broad term. Some things should be deregulated because they assist in providing economic stability. In others, regulation is essential.
For example in 1983 they floated the Aussie dollar. Prior to this the currency was fixed to the US dollar. Now that it is floating, if our economy is booming we will see a rise in our currency. This will make our exports more expensive and cool the market, assisting in the fight against inflation. However, if we see a large shock to the economy, the AUD drops and our exports become more profitable. This stimulates our economy. This is good policy.
A bad example of deregulation is when the US government repealed the Glass Steagall Act in the nineties. This act was created after the great depression and said that banks needed to decide whether they were investment banks or banks that made their money from savings and loans. This was implemented because the banks risked the nations savings to gamble on the sharemarket and created the great depression. This shows blind self interest and ten years after they changed the law, we went through the GFC for largely the same reason.
A free market is essential in some situations to stop imbalances forming in the economy, but regulation in certain instances can be just as essential.