nationalize

LibertyWeek 77: The Future of the Senate

by Richard Morrison on January 19, 2010

in CEI Projects, Podcast

Richard Morrison, Jeremy Lott and the American Spectator’s Joseph Lawler assemble to bring you Episode 77 of the LibertyWeek podcast. We explore the Massachusetts Senate race, Google vs. China on web censorship, the debate over global warming in Detroit, the cost of doing business in Venezuela and the inspiring philanthropic response to the humanitarian crisis in Haiti.

Should the U.S. Government Nationalize “Broken” Banks?

by Richard Morrison on February 3, 2009 · 1 comment

in Bailout Watch, Economy

Such is the title of the latest BusinessWeek.com debate. Taking the “con” side is CEI’s own Eli Lehrer, who argues (in part):

Long-term government bank ownership, in any case, would simply make the country poorer. Banks actually create money when they lend it out, but doing so only has positive overall economic consequences when the loans get repaid. Government-owned banks would face enormous, understandable pressure to lend to politically powerful groups and industries that can’t reasonably repay their loans. Even the best managers couldn’t overcome this pressure.

Even in the “post-partisan” paradise of the Obama Era, public choice still matters!

*Photo credit: Declan McCullagh.