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The joke in 2008 was “there are no atheists in foxholes and no libertarians in banking crises.”

panick21_ 2y ago
Except there were plenty of libertarians in bank crisis. There just weren't any in powerful position in governments. There is a reason actual libertarians don't end up in those positions. A tiny amount of people who claim to have some libertarian conservative leanings maybe changed their minds, but overwhelmingly those were just politicians who talked libertarianism to get some gun fans to vote for them.
- roughly 2y ago
  I get that no true scotsman would call for government intervention even under the direst of circumstances, but a whole hell of a lot of people who days earlier were loudly decrying the notion that there was any place at all for government within the perfect operations of the one true market were suddenly very, very concerned that that same government wouldn't do enough to rescue the poor innocent bankers who'd just made a couple trillion in bad bets and whose failure would surely end the world economy, and they persisted in that concern right up until it became clear they and their friends would be fine and there was a possibility that someone might actually present them with a bill for the carnage they'd caused, at which point they saw the light again and went back to their former fervent belief that there was no circumstances ever under which the government had any business getting involved in their business. I'm sure you and all your friends are all pure of heart and intent, but boy have there been an awful lot of craven assholes operating under your banner who sure seem to lose their spine once there's actual stakes for them.
  - panick21_ 2y ago
    I wouldn't describe myself as a libertarian and I don't have any friends that are. I don't have much insight into silicon valley culture as I am from Europe. All I can say is that in most online forums that I saw, the overwhelming majority libertarians are against such bank rescue operations.

Except there were plenty of libertarians in bank crisis. There just weren't any in powerful position in governments. There is a reason actual libertarians don't end up in those positions. A tiny amount of people who claim to have some libertarian conservative leanings maybe changed their minds, but overwhelmingly those were just politicians who talked libertarianism to get some gun fans to vote for them.

roughly 2y ago
I get that no true scotsman would call for government intervention even under the direst of circumstances, but a whole hell of a lot of people who days earlier were loudly decrying the notion that there was any place at all for government within the perfect operations of the one true market were suddenly very, very concerned that that same government wouldn't do enough to rescue the poor innocent bankers who'd just made a couple trillion in bad bets and whose failure would surely end the world economy, and they persisted in that concern right up until it became clear they and their friends would be fine and there was a possibility that someone might actually present them with a bill for the carnage they'd caused, at which point they saw the light again and went back to their former fervent belief that there was no circumstances ever under which the government had any business getting involved in their business. I'm sure you and all your friends are all pure of heart and intent, but boy have there been an awful lot of craven assholes operating under your banner who sure seem to lose their spine once there's actual stakes for them.
- panick21_ 2y ago
  I wouldn't describe myself as a libertarian and I don't have any friends that are. I don't have much insight into silicon valley culture as I am from Europe. All I can say is that in most online forums that I saw, the overwhelming majority libertarians are against such bank rescue operations.