The President: “I have never found Wall Street a source of good economic advice.”
Posted by Steven Hayward
Barack Obama last week? Nope. Ronald Reagan in 1981.
(This should confuse a few NLT readers and trolls.--Ed. Precisely. Happy Saturday!)
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To err is human. While Reagan did not take Wall Street's economic advice, neither did he try to take it over.
Both Kate and, perhaps, Mr. Hayward seem to miss the point (though I suspect Mr. Hayward may be toying with us here). President Reagan was not wrong in his comment. I believe he recognized that stock market results provide an accurate reflection of investor sentiment during any given period. Of course, such "results" are open to interpretation but Reagan was wise enough to know that you ignore Wall Street at your own risk.
Not a surprise to me. Unlike modern Republicans, Reagan was rarely a pawn of rent-seeking businessmen. He understood that they were the enemy of the free-market system.
I did not mean to say Reagan was wrong. I think he knew Wall Street was capable of error for many reasons, especially self-interest. However, if Wall Street is wrong, as in the way the article in my link indicates, we all may suffer for a spell. If government policy on the economy is wrong, we can suffer for a lot longer.
Kate:
You mean self-interest not rightly understood. :-)
Yes, Erik, that is just what I mean. :-) (the smiley is a first for me)
Wait. However, isn't such self-interest always understandable, because we are all frail humans?