Sheldon Richman’s column today is devoted to the housing meltdown. In particular, he examines the argument that it was caused by deregulation — the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act. That, he shows, citing the work of professors Jeffrey Rogers Hummel and Warren Gibson, had nothing to do with it. But defenders of the mega-state keep asserting that because, as Richman says, they will always blame any problem caused by government on whatever is left of the free market.