Thread by @scafaria

Libertarians seeking bailouts are *not* hypocritical. A short 🧵

Libertarians advocate for “economic freedom.” Wealth should be allowed to beget more wealth, free of societal constraints. And of course wealth provides power 💥, which in turn then begets wealth and power, and on and on. 2/11

The 1971 “Powell Memo” provided ideological fuel for libertarians, encouraging business leaders to treat society and democracy as malleable. The powerful could and should bend society itself to allow the exponential compounding of power. Lobbying $ skyrocketed 📈
3/11

The essence of libertarianism isn’t “no government intervention.” Its overriding principle is to allow the powerful to compound more power, unchecked by societal constraints. Nothing hypocritical then about using the levers of power to privatize gains and socialize risk! 🤷‍♂️
4/11

My pinned tweet video provides a thorough dismantling of libertarianism. (I was schooled in this stuff; it took me years to see the light.) 5/11

Debunking Economic Myths in Service of Democracy (FULL VIDEO)

⚠️ #SVB appears to be a case where the moral hazard will be absorbed by banks via a fund set aside for this scenario, rather than taxpayers directly.
6/11
(Narrator: Yeah, I know, paid for by our banking fees as consumers.)
Gifted wapo:

wapo.st/3YISvPe

“Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said that taxpayers would bear none of the burden of protecting depositors. Their funds will be backstopped by a pool of money that is regularly paid into by U.S. banks, which now holds more than $100 billion.” 7/11

Do I wish the regulations had remained in place (which Trmp repealed) that would have avoided this? Of course. Sometimes libertarians can be their own worst enemy, as the #SVB situation highlights. And regular people get caught in the crossfire. 8/11

forbes.com/sites/mayrarod…

What should happen to the companies who did nothing worse than deposit money in a bank? wapo:
9/11
“I didn’t make risky bets. I wasn’t doing anything illegal… We just put our money in a bank account and now, our business is a precarious position for it.”

There will be a lot of finger pointing at the Biden administration. But anti-libertarians (Democrats) aren’t to blame here. And this won’t use our taxes or grow the debt. Will VCs and banks hold each other accountable? I wish.
10/11

In sum, this seems like yet another situation (like #NorfolkSouthern) where regulations were removed that could have avoided harm (NS case: ECB brakes). Lobbied for by libertarians who wanted to socialize risk. That isn’t hypocrisy. It’s the whole game. 11