The Free Market and the Culture of Victimization

[n2doc]

— By Kevin Drum| Wed May. 11, 2011 10:46 AM PDT
Here is American politics in a nutshell:

“I’m glad to see they’re trying to rein in Fannie Mae, but I think I’m being disproportionately penalized,” said Rayn Random, who is trying to sell her house in the hills for $849,000 so she can move to Florida.

Actually, that's probably everyone's politics in a nutshell. The issue here is that in 2008, after the collapse of the housing market, the federal government raised the limit for the size of the home loans that Fannie Mae would guarantee. Now, three years later, they're planning to lower the limit back to near its old value. This is a small step toward limiting Fannie Mae's involvement in the mortgage market, something that's almost a unanimous, bipartisan goal.

But no matter how broadly supported a policy is, there's always somebody who's going to get the short end of the stick and is convinced they're being singled out for unfair treatment. In this case, it's upper middle class homeowners, who might have a bit harder time selling their homes and might have to pay a bit more when they're buying one. This is, of course, the free market in action, but no one in the housing industry cares about that when it's their paychecks on the line.

...

I'd peg the number of genuine believers in free market capitalism at about 1% of the population. Maybe. The rest of us just want whatever policies benefit us the most. And the richer you are, the more money you make from policies that benefit you. Among the rich and the corporate elite, true believers in the free market probably number about 0%.

whole article

http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/05/culture-victimization-and-free-market

[brewens]

1. Precisely! When they think it's a free market, it usually isn't.

Look at the years before the labor movement. No free market for labor there. The employers were organized against the workers.

Will regulating the financial markets squash free market capitalism? You mean their system of bribery and payoffs? How is that a free market?

[LetTimmySmoke]

2. RWers are making comments on places like MSNBC that literally say...

..that because 50% owed no income tax, that the more money one has, the more votes they should have. I'm not kidding.

Then there's the glee that "lazy American workers" are finally having their jobs shipped to the more virtuous "hard working" PRC