A NY Times article on the credit crisis...
Over the last two decades, few industries have lobbied more ferociously or effectively than banks to get the government out of its business and to obtain freer rein for “financial innovation.”Bush? Free-market? Right.But as losses from bad mortgages and mortgage-backed securities climb past $200 billion, talk among banking executives for an epic government rescue plan is suddenly coming into fashion...
Surprisingly, the normally free-market Bush administration has expressed interest.
Here's the surprise: "free-market" is a euphemism. Rarely has it meant what you think it means. And that is intentional. This has nothing to do with whether or not a "free-market" would work. Nobody with any current leverage wants a free-market. Why should they? Just look at this very deal being worked out, right in the open. This isn't even a back-room deal.
It reminds me of the Bush tax cuts, more than anything else.