Doug French has a very enlightening Freeman essay today in which he discusses the idea that Wall Street is somehow the heart of capitalism in America. It’s not.
French provides a wealth of information about the origins of the recent housing crash, all involving federal meddling that politicians thought would improve the market. Too bad they didn’t just leave it alone.
I especially like his conclusion that federal intervention “keeps capitalism from doing its regenerative work. This keeps the crisis fresh in people’s minds, the search for scapegoats heated, while the punk economy lingers.”