http://www.fordhallforum.org/archives/10-17-1961 The nation's oldest continously operating free public lecture series Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:44:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.fordhallforum.org/archives/10-17-1961/comment-page-1#comment-551 Ayn Rand was Right; Socialists Falsely Blame Capitalism : Duke Over America Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:08:53 +0000 http://www.fordhallforum.org/wordpress/?p=310#comment-551 [...] With a straight face, socialists seek to blame free-market capitalism for this nation’s housing-related economic challenges. They must think Americans are stupid, because it doesn’t take much sense to realize that our country’s current economy is far from a free market — it’s actually a mixed economy, with some capitalist (good) elements and some socialist/fascist (bad) elements. In a truly capitalist economy, politicians like Congressman Barney Frank would have no power over the economy. But in today’s mixed economy, Frank can proclaim (as he did on September 25, 2003) “I want to roll the dice a little bit more in this situation towards subsidized housing,” and then go about (as he did) using the iron fist of government to get housing in the hands of people who couldn’t afford housing. And Frank was far from the only harmful leftist politician to do so. Another example is Andrew Cuomo, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) from 1997-2001. On the HUD website today is a mention of the “accomplishments under the leadership of Secretary Andrew Cuomo, who took office in January 1997.” What accomplishments? According to the website, in 1999, “Secretary Cuomo established new Affordable Housing Goals requiring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — two government sponsored enterprises involved in housing finance — to buy $2.4 trillion in mortgages in the next 10 years. This will mean new affordable housing for about 28.1 million low- and moderate-income families.” Translation: Andrew Cuomo used the iron fist of government to force lenders to place mortgages in the hands of millions of folks, many of whom couldn’t afford (or could only barely afford) mortgages. All of this reminds me of one of my favorite Ayn Rand quotes: “Every dictatorship or potential dictatorship needs some minority group as a scapegoat which i... [...] [...] With a straight face, socialists seek to blame free-market capitalism for this nation’s housing-related economic challenges. They must think Americans are stupid, because it doesn’t take much sense to realize that our country’s current economy is far from a free market — it’s actually a mixed economy, with some capitalist (good) elements and some socialist/fascist (bad) elements. In a truly capitalist economy, politicians like Congressman Barney Frank would have no power over the economy. But in today’s mixed economy, Frank can proclaim (as he did on September 25, 2003) “I want to roll the dice a little bit more in this situation towards subsidized housing,” and then go about (as he did) using the iron fist of government to get housing in the hands of people who couldn’t afford housing. And Frank was far from the only harmful leftist politician to do so. Another example is Andrew Cuomo, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) from 1997-2001. On the HUD website today is a mention of the “accomplishments under the leadership of Secretary Andrew Cuomo, who took office in January 1997.” What accomplishments? According to the website, in 1999, “Secretary Cuomo established new Affordable Housing Goals requiring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — two government sponsored enterprises involved in housing finance — to buy $2.4 trillion in mortgages in the next 10 years. This will mean new affordable housing for about 28.1 million low- and moderate-income families.” Translation: Andrew Cuomo used the iron fist of government to force lenders to place mortgages in the hands of millions of folks, many of whom couldn’t afford (or could only barely afford) mortgages. All of this reminds me of one of my favorite Ayn Rand quotes: “Every dictatorship or potential dictatorship needs some minority group as a scapegoat which i… [...]

]]>