Article by Russ Roberts
Russ is an economist at George Mason University and the host of the excellent podcast "Econtalk". I listen to it enough that I feel comfortable addressing him as "Russ".
The focus on the article is discussing the cause of our current crisis. Russ discusses the fact that a lot of our current problems has been caused by incorrect government regulation.
Politicians wanted more home ownership than the market produces on its own, especially among low-income families. To encourage this politically popular goal, Fannie Mae (nyse: FNM - news - people ) and Freddie Mac (nyse: FRE - news - people ) were allowed to privatize their profits and socialize their losses
The fear now, of course, is that whoever our new leader will be will rush in to "solve" the problem with regulation that will exacerbate the problem even further.
Article by Donald Bourdreau
First part of his article debunks the idea of comparing what is happening now to the great depression. A lot of articles and politicians and candidates lately enjoy saying "as bad as the depression" or some such think. Are thinks bad? Yes. Is this as bad as the depression? Not even close. He closes the article with a warning about the problems further nationalization of our institutions will bring.
Great articles and I think my summaries do neither justice. But this is just a beginning in trying to understand this "educational experience" we are currently going through.
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