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Ludwig von Mises Institute is a strongly political institute promoting its own economic and political agenda and so having rather biased opinions about things. It seems that usually they first have their preferred goal and conclusion in mind and after that try to write a theory that could support it (nothing new in that though, as far as economic and social sciences are spoken of...).

Besides of the Austrian school "Anarcho-capitalist thinkers such as Murray Rothbard have also had a strong influence on the Institute's work". "The Institute's stated goal is to undermine statism in all its forms." "The Institute is generally critical of statism and democracy, with the latter being described in Institute publications as 'coercive', 'incompatible with wealth creation' and 'replete with inner contradictions'." "The Institute's economic theories depict any government intervention as destructive, whether through welfare, inflation, taxation, regulation, or war."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_von_Mises_Institute

Edited 2008-09-25 16:08 UTC

Ludwig von Mises Institute is a strongly political institute promoting its own economic and political agenda and so having rather biased opinions about things. It seems that usually they first have their preferred goal and conclusion in mind and after that try to write a theory that could support it (nothing new in that though, as far as economic and social sciences are spoken of...).

Besides of the Austrian school "Anarcho-capitalist thinkers such as Murray Rothbard have also had a strong influence on the Institute's work". "The Institute's stated goal is to undermine statism in all its forms." "The Institute is generally critical of statism and democracy, with the latter being described in Institute publications as 'coercive', 'incompatible with wealth creation' and 'replete with inner contradictions'." "The Institute's economic theories depict any government intervention as destructive, whether through welfare, inflation, taxation, regulation, or war."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_von_Mises_Institute "
That's nice, if inaccurate and irrelevant. The theories I'm referencing, particularly related to money, interest and causes of the business cycle are older than either the institute or Rothbard himself.

Thom asked for sources of this alternate explanation and I provided one.

Everyone has an agenda. The people attempting to explain this debacle away as a "failure of capitalism" and "too little government regulation" have a vested interest in expanding the role of the state in financial markets just as much as others have an interest in removing these government induced disasters. The statists have the added impetus that they are attempting to shift blame away from themselves and their policies.