Free Market Monetary System A

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM THE FINANCIAL CRISIS?NOTHING. The informative bestseller that shows us where our economy went wrong—and what we can do about it—with a timely new introduction. One of the most important books to emerge from the 2008 economic crisis, this powerful wake-up call from financial expert John Allison has become a classic in the field. Now, in light of emerging global trends and shakeups in the stock market, the book’s message is more timely than ever: The government should stop trying to fix our economy. The free market is our best and only hope. In this eye-opening book, Allison reveals: •How the Federal Reserve has even more power than before the Great Recession—and why this is a problem. •How Wall Street has been wrongly blamed for our slow economic recovery—and why it’s Washington’s fault. •How government regulations like Dodd Frank have burdened banks—and stifled growth. •How socialized medicine and entitlements drive up costs—and how government policies exacerbate unemployment and income inequality. •Why free market capitalism offers a proven cure for our economy—and how to make it work for all Americans.

Thirty years ago, the economic system of the Soviet empire—socialism—seemed definitively discredited. Today, the most popular figures in the Democratic Party embrace it, while the shapers of public opinion treat capitalism as morally indefensible. Is there a moral case for capitalism? Consumerism is an appalling spectacle. Free markets may be efficient, but are they fair? Aren’t there some things that we can’t afford to leave to the vicissitudes of the market? Robert Sirico, a onetime leftist, shows how a free economy—including private property, legally enforceable contracts, and prices and interest rates freely agreed to by the parties to a transaction—is the best way to meet society’s material needs. In fact, the free market has lifted millions out of dire poverty—far more people than state welfare or private charity has ever rescued from want. But efficiency isn’t its only virtue. Economic freedom is indispensable for the other freedoms we prize. And it’s not true that it makes things more important than people—just the reverse. Only if we have economic rights can we protect ourselves from government encroachment into the most private areas of our lives—including our consciences. Defending the Free Market is a powerful vindication of capitalism and a timely warning for a generation flirting with disaster.

* Explains how the 2008 financial meltdown came about and how to revitalize global and domestic economies * Shows how capitalist economies developed and why the state matters in their functioning Free market purists claim that the state is an inefficient institution that does little for society beyond providing stability and protection. The activities related to distributing resources and economic growth, they say, are better left to the invisible hand of the marketplace. These notions now seem tragically misguided in the wake of the 2008 market collapse and bailout. Mark Martinez describes how the flawed myth of the "invisible hand" distorted our understanding of how modern capitalist markets developed and actually work. Martinez draws from history to illustrate that political processes and the state are not only instrumental in making capitalist markets work but that there would be no capitalist markets or wealth creation without state intervention. He brings his story up to the present day to show how the seeds of an unprecedented government intervention in the financial markets were sown in past actions. The Myth of the Free Market is a fascinating and accessible introduction to comparative economic systems as well as an incisive refutation of the standard mantras of neoclassical free market economic theory.