All over the Internet (even a few other forums for the highly intelligent), there are people trying to blame the recession the "unfettered capitalism" we've apparently gained over the last decade. At HN, I expect people to know better, or, at least, to only have to be taught once.
Just because you disagree with someone doesn't mean you downvote them. This is exactly the kind of attitude that fosters groupthink and drains the life out of forums.
What gets on my nerves isn't whether people like capitalism, it's whether they go around saying that the system we have now is laissez-faire capitalism, and then huge bonuses to failed executives are testament to that. I have full respect for someone who has a very clear idea of what capitalism is and argues against it nonetheless.
I downvoted electromagnetic because he distorted what Rand's actually saying. I upvoted him everywhere else in the thread, where he argues about the book, but I thought that it was worth downvoting inaccuracy.
I feel that it would be better to point out the inaccuracy, which could very well be a result of misunderstanding on electromagnetic's part. I believe downvoting should be reserved for more egregious errors (trolling, off-topic, rudeness, and so on). I think you raise a separate point than Darmani did, however. He was focusing on economic ideas and topics that are far more open to discussion as a reason for downvoting.
Actually, if you look at the history, you'll see that many in the Canadian government and the banks themselves felt that they were missing out on all the great action that US banks were able to get in on. It was the prudence of the government of the time that saved them. If it was left up to them, the banks up here would be in the same state as American banks.
To suggest however that the government somehow forced American banks to lend to people that didn't deserve it against the bank's better judgment is garbage. That doesn't explain half of the EU's current problem.
No, the one exception between Canada and the rest of the world right now is that we have tighter regulations on our banking sector.
Incidentally Bank of Montreal actually ran a profit on interest from bailing out the US' system.
A considerable amount of money spent in the US bailout of banks actually ended up in Canada, Europe and Japan due to debts the US banks had already accumulated.
