Washington Post Says, Deregulation and Free Markets are NOT RESPONSIBLE For This Financial Meltdown?

The usually left leaning Washington Post Editorial board has hopped aboard the straight talk express in their description of the role government had in distorting the markets that led to the recent financial crisis.

Is Capitalism Dead?
The market that failed was not exactly free.

Monday, October 20, 2008; A14

IS THIS the end of American capitalism? As financial panic spread across the globe and governments scrambled to contain the damage, reality seemed to announce the doom of U.S.-style free markets and President Bush's ideology. But this is wrong in two ways. The deregulation of U.S. financial markets did not reflect only the narrow ideology of a particular party or administration. And the problem with the U.S. economy, more than lack of regulation, has been government's failure to control systemic risks that government itself helped to create. We are not witnessing a crisis of the free market but a crisis of distorted market.

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