CEI Partners with NTU to Launch BeyondBailouts.org

Did the free market cause the financial crisis?  Was it unbridled capitalism?

The Competitive Enterprise Institute and the National Taxpayers Union don’t believe for a minute that capitalism caused the financial crisis.  How can we be so confident?  Because capitalism doesn’t exist in the United States, especially in the financial sector.

Nearly every industry in the U.S. finds itself making regular pilgrimages to Washington to seek special favors—subsidies for this or that, regulations that harm competitors or smaller firms, or trade deals that benefit their industry while hurting the American consumer.  No, America doesn’t have a capitalist system, we have a system of special favors, handouts, and perversion of the free market.

That’s why we’ve launched BeyondBailouts.org.  The financial system should be a free market one, not one controlled by the government, because government control and influence over the financial system is to blame for much of the current crisis.

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae bought up bad loans, pushing the industry to make more of them.  The Fed played fast and loose with monetary policy by making money so cheap that financiers used it recklessly.  Our tax policies and myriad Federal programs are geared toward pushing people into homes they can’t afford.  Many of these policies were put into place by corrupt politicians bankrolled by those who sought to make a fast buck while distorting the free market.

Tell Congress enough is enough.  Write your Member of Congress and sign our petition at BeyondBailouts.org.