Real Capitalists

My reaction to Obi wan’s claim that "pro-capitalist conservatives have pushed for governmental intervention into our capital markets" was that nobody who supported the bailout has any claim to being a capitalist. I find that my position is much more clearly stated by Judy Shelton in the Wall Street Journal:

Honest capitalism requires the following:

Free-market clarity – Consumers must be able to properly judge the inherent value of goods brought to the marketplace if markets are to function properly;

Monetary integrity – Monetary-policy decisions that "stimulate" the economy by issuing too many claims to real production, or "constrict" the economy by reducing the amount of available purchasing power or capital investment, utterly confound the notion of stable money.

Financial validity – What turns the reputable practice of granting credits to deserving borrowers into a high-stakes casino game where the biggest stacks of chips are held by speculators working for the world’s largest banks and investment houses? . . . Exotic financial derivatives that gamble on the anomalies of the global economy — currency movements, interest-rate disparities, governance incongruities — mock the very concept of "investment" to generate future higher returns from production.

Regulatory responsibility – Rule of law is a core requirement for civil society; without it, anarchy reigns. Government regulation does not create wealth, but it is a necessary condition to provide the stable and predictable environment that permits buyers and sellers to carry out economic and financial transactions with confidence.

Entrepreneurial opportunity – Much of the resentment felt by citizens toward the massive investment companies who peddled bad government paper, and the craven politicians who promoted the practice, stems from the perception that capitalism is rigged toward the most powerful. When the owner of a small retail outlet or medium-sized service firm gets into financial trouble — who steps in to help? . . . Equal access to credit is sacrificed to the overwhelming appetite of big business — especially when government skews the terms in favor of its friends.

(emphasis added)

This is what I was trying to say in Financial Foundations Exposed and which makes me reject the notion that capitalists pushed for intervention in our markets. I admit that many of those pushing for that intervention claim to be capitalists, but some of them make the claim as a lie and others make the claim in ignorance. No real capitalist could back the bailout because real capitalists recognize that there is value to be had in failure.