But lying to reporters isn’t a crime; if it were, we would have a hard time staffing Congress.

When there is excess supply of something, its price usually falls. And the price of housing has fallen since the peak. But it hasn’t fallen enough, probably, because the government has been very eager to stop the price of housing from falling. Interest rates have been kept close to zero and the government has worked very hard to keep the flow of credit going by nationalizing Fannie and Freddie and keeping them in business to provide liquidity to the housing market. That in turn has made sure that the excess supply of houses is not mopped up by eager buyers. And that means that new housing starts are going to be anemic. And that means that unemployed carpenters and electricians will remain unemployed. Some have been tempted to find a new occupation. Others are going to wait, hoping the housing market will recover. It should have recovered or at least be on the path to recovery but the government has stymied the adjustment process.

Despite its surface appeal, solidarity is the #1 cause of self-righteous injustice against out-groups and naysayers. It would be a better world if we could just admit that our “fellow citizens” are not our brothers and sisters, but strangers.

There’s a growing moral scrupulosity going on in libertarian land, to the point that every really existing business is closely examined for any hint of state involvement (sin!), even when one stage removed (sin!), and then, upon discovery, condemned to hell has yet another example of the terrible things that the state does to the world. How does this work? If you defend WalMart – an amazing company that provides for the world – the scrupulous will cite how it thrives off public road access. Speak about the glories of personal computers, and the scrupulous will point to the vast sales to public schools. It seems that nothing escapes condemnation because, after all, in a heavily interventionist economy, nothing is immaculately conceived outside the smallest autarkic production unit.

On the other hand, sometimes programs don’t work, were never going to work, and can’t be made to work. Even in the latter case, you still hear the sort of thing that Berwick is saying from the proponents of said programs: we need more time, more money, more staff, more rules. People have usually spent years, even decades, investing in their ideas; when contrary evidence comes in, their first instinct is rarely to say, “Well, that’s too bad–it sure seemed like it was going to work, but I guess it didn’t!” No, what they want to do is double down.

As an economist, I think the fundamental rhetorical issue is as basic as it gets: most critics of free-market capitalism simply don’t understand how competitive markets work. And, as far as I can tell, many have never bothered to try.

It is this system of price controls that is causing many doctors to take no Medicare patients.

Those who put down this industry are completely uncomprehending about its significance in terms of technology, entrepreneurship, social service, and human well being. It is a microcosmic culmination of human progress from the beginnings of the industrial revolution to our time, an archetype of human cooperation and capitalist risk taking has brought joy to the most fundamental of all material impulses: the need to eat.

But in 1933 all moral criteria were thrown overboard. The United States, the last holdout among the major powers, gave in, and Roosevelt began negotiations to welcome the model killer state of the century into the community of nations.