Recent comments by Kevin Remillard

• America’s New Progressive Era?

  Leszek Balcerowicz is a Polish economist, the former chairman of the National Bank of Poland and Deputy Prime Minister in Tadeusz. "Generally in the West, intellectuals like to blame the markets," he says. "There is a widespread belief that crises occur in capitalism mostly. The word crisis is associated with the word capitalism. While if you look in a comparative way, you see that the largest economic and also human catastrophes happen in non-market systems, when there's a heavy concentration of political power—Stalin, Mao, the Khmer Rouge, many other cases."
  
  Going back to the 19th century, industrializing economies recovered best after a crisis with no or limited intervention. Yet Keynesians continue to insist that only the state can compensate for the flaws of the market, he says.
  
  "This idea that markets tend to fall into self-perpetuating crises and only wise government can extract the country out of this crisis implicitly assumes that you have two kinds of people, normal people who are operating in the markets and better people who work for the state. They deny human nature."
  

• Ideas over Interests

  Economist’s ideas affect thinking and private sector executives embrace or refute ideas depending upon their interests. Organized special political interests are another indeed. Free market mortgage ideas are disciplined while idealistic undisciplined interests will be taken advantage of.