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Evil Bankers

Ok, most bankers aren't evil. Except the ones who who took on too much risk, assuming housing prices would only rise -- then lost billions of dollars and were saved by a taxpayer-funded bailout. They are evil. Maybe that's unfair. They just chased opportunity. I mostly blame the politicians who grabbed our money and bailed them out. Had they not done that, then the bankers would have just lost their own (and their reckless investors') money, not taxpayers' money. Most anger toward bankers now centers on the private equity guys who reorganized companies, fired people, and made a lot of money. This political ad, run by Newt Gingrich's supporters, portrays Bain Capital as evil. The ad is ridiculous. Fox Business reporter Sandra Smith and investment banker Paul Levy will explain how Mitt Romney's former private equity firm, and others, are part of the creative destruction that is needed for capitalism to work. They are not "vulture capitalists, " as Rick Perry called them. John Taylor, the President and CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, says that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do more good than harm. I will vehemently disagree. Legalize insider trading and abolish the Security and Exchange Commission! So argues Robert Murphy from the Mises Institute. He says that insider information would lead to more accurate stock prices, and that the SEC does more harm than good. George Mason economist Russ Roberts is disgusted with crony capitalism, but Ben Barber from the progressive think-thank Demos says we can't completely cut government out of business. And finally, would you like to print your own money, just like our government does? I printed my own Stossel dollars. It's illegal to use that as currency, but former Federal Reserve economist David Barker argues that it should be legal--that competition in currencies would be a good thing.

English
  • Originally Aired March 1, 2012
  • Runtime 60 minutes
  • Content Rating United States of America TV-PG
  • Network Fox Business
  • Created September 1, 2014 by
    Administrator admin
  • Modified September 1, 2014 by
    Administrator admin