GalileoBlogs' article published as cover story

[brian0918]

As he announced on The Harry Binswanger List, our own GalileoBlogs (blog) has a cover article in the latest edition of the CFA Institute's Magazine. The magazine has a "global circulation of 100,000", and the institute is responsible for awarding the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. Indeed, the entire cover is devoted to his article:

(The yellow banner reads, "Is more regulation the answer to market woes?")

His article details the fundamental causes of the subprime crisis (Fed regulation of money; FNMA, FHLC regulation of mortgages; CRA-like regulation of lending standards), and makes a principled call for the repeal of such regulations and the closure of those agencies, in support of individual rights.

You can PM or email GalileoBlogs to receive a copy of the text of the article, at his discretion, provided that it is not distributed in its entirety online. Copies of this issue of the magazine can also be purchased for $15 through this form (PDF) - write "CFA Magazine, January/February 2009, Vol. 20, No. 1" for the item description.

Edited January 24, 2009 by brian0918

[Galileo Blogs]

Brian,

Thank you for promoting the article. I will gladly email it to anyone who emails me through this forum. Here is what I said originally about the article on HB List (hblist.com). (I modified the language slightly for this forum.):

***

I am excited to announce that an article I wrote has been published in CFA Magazine, a magazine with global circulation of 100,000 that is published by CFA Institute, a finance professional organization. It is part of an "Agree / Disagree" set on the proposition: "The global market crisis calls for an expansion of regulatory oversight." I have permission to distribute it. I will email it to anyone who wants a copy. It can also be re-distributed, as long as no one posts it in its entirety on the web.

In the article, I call for gold money and the abolition of regulatory agencies. I identify the need for government to recognize the right to life, liberty, and property. The editor featured the article as the magazine's cover story under a scary image that says, "Big Government Is Watching." In the print version of the magazine, a yellow banner also asks, "Is more regulation the answer to market woes?"

Here are the opening paragraphs. Later, I discuss the specific causes and solution to the crisis.

"Regulation cannot be the solution to the financial crisis because it is the cause of the financial crisis. The only proper action for governments to take is to remove existing regulations, fully recognize property rights, and enforce already-existing laws against fraud and theft. Doing so will help our economy speedily recover and make future crises smaller and rarer.

In fact, the premise itself is misleading. "Regulatory oversight" implies that regulation is some form of law enforcement mechanism that protects the rights to life and property, akin to laws against robbery, murder, and fraud. But that is not the case. Such laws already exist on the books and should be enforced when mortgage lenders, for example, commit fraud. No new regulation is necessary to protect rights.

Instead of protecting rights, regulations violate them. A regulation is an action by a government body that intervenes in voluntary agreements between individuals. It prohibits--before the fact--entire classes of behavior, criminalizing that behavior even if it is voluntary and involves no compulsion or fraud. For example, a law such as the Community Reinvestment Act that forces lenders to give mortgage loans to borrowers that do not meet their credit standards violates the right of the lender to decide whether and to whom to lend its money."

-GB