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A review by theangrylawngnome
How Markets Fail: The Logic of Economic Calamities by John Cassidy
3.0
Bowing and scraping before the altar of orthodox Keynesianism to an embarassing degree does not make you wrong. Nor does it make you right. It simply makes you irritating. Especially when the facts muddy your nifty theory, as when the author ignores several commentators who ALSO predicted a housing bubble and who think Keynesian economics is nothing but nonsense. (Peter Schiff, anyone? Michael Shedlock?) His work lost a LOT of credibility, at least in my eyes, by making an oversight I can only consider intentional. As both Schiff and Shedlock were all over the media predicting gloom and doom.
Pity he also didn't name names to the flip-side of Keynesianism, as with those surpluses governments are supposed to run when times are good. Which politician has ever done that again? (And, no, Bill Clinton didn't, despite the fairy tales spouted at HuffPo, etc.)
Okay, now that I've hacked up those hairballs, "Part 3" was superbly written and researched. Cassidy managed to capture Greenspan as both a deer in the headlights about how the crisis hit while still managing to (mostly) deny that any of it had anything to do with him. Also, a very solid job describing the creation of MBS's of all stripes, though he probably should have had more to say about AIG.
Please note that I am hardly offering any sort of defense for the administration of GWB, simply noting that there's a lot more out there than this book mentions.
Pity he also didn't name names to the flip-side of Keynesianism, as with those surpluses governments are supposed to run when times are good. Which politician has ever done that again? (And, no, Bill Clinton didn't, despite the fairy tales spouted at HuffPo, etc.)
Okay, now that I've hacked up those hairballs, "Part 3" was superbly written and researched. Cassidy managed to capture Greenspan as both a deer in the headlights about how the crisis hit while still managing to (mostly) deny that any of it had anything to do with him. Also, a very solid job describing the creation of MBS's of all stripes, though he probably should have had more to say about AIG.
Please note that I am hardly offering any sort of defense for the administration of GWB, simply noting that there's a lot more out there than this book mentions.